Chapter 1: Section 6: Pages 51-52: Line 126 (920)

 After a couple-three slow puffs, "Ever come out of work in this town when the light's still in the sky and the lamps are just being lit along the big avenues and down by the Lake, and the girls are all out of the offices and shops and heading home, and the steak houses are cranking up for the evening trade, and the plate-glass windows are shining, with the rigs all lined up by the hotels, and—"

* * * * * * * * * *

Lew takes a slow moment to think about it and then gives evidence for how it's going to cost Nate quite a bit of money to get him to leave Chicago for Denver.

Chapter 1: Section 6: Page 51: Line 125 (919)

 Lew reached for a panatela and lit up.

* * * * * * * * * *

Sounds like Lew is considering the cost of the favor Nate is asking of him.

"panatela"
A long thin cigar. I don't know how this is a penis joke but since Pynchon wrote it, I'm sure it's funny.

Chapter 1: Section 6: Page 51: Lines 122-124 (916-918)

 "Lew, it's gold and silver mining out there. Nuggets for the picking up. Favors that you can name your own price."

* * * * * * * * * *

Here we see how capitalism keeps most Americans down. Because this is the intersection of making money and keeping other people from making money. There's lots of money in mining which means a lot of people not doing any mining are going to want their hands on that money and are willing to pay other people for information that can be used to take that money out of the hands of the people actually doing the mining. Money enough for everybody except the poor sods who are actually pulling the gold and silver out of the earth. So much money that if somebody comes along and says, "Hey, I want to find a way to steal the claim from that old guy down the canyon . . . you know, the one with the donkey?", you can say, "Well, I reckon that's gonna cost twenty thousand dollars." And the person, knowing exactly how much money is in the ground out there, will instantly put out their hand and scream, "Deal, sucker!"

Chapter 1: Section 6: Page 51: Lines 120-121 (914-915)

 "O.K, boss, I get the drift. It's not up to you, that what you're about to say?"

* * * * * * * * * *

Nate's a coward and Lew let's Nate know he knows. Obviously it's up to Nate; it's his agency!

Chapter 1: Section 6: Page 51: Line 119 (913)

 As if this were a real question, Lew began to recite names of plausible colleagues, all of them with an edge on him in seniority, till Nate's frown had grown deep enough.

* * * * * * * * * *

"As if this were a real question"
The question: "Who better than Lew to ramrod the operation?" Lew decides to point out all of the people who would be a better fit. But since it wasn't a real question, Nate shows his displeasure at the path this conversation has gone down. He's sending Lew and it was never meant to be a discussion.

Chapter 1: Section 6: Page 51: Line 118 (912)

 W.C.I. had decided to open a Denver office, Nate explained, and with more Anarchists per square foot out there than a man could begin to combat, who better than Lew to ramrod the operation?

* * * * * * * * * *

They'll have to change the Denver office's name from White City Investigations to Mile High Investigations. Or, I suppose, the whole "White City" connotations still fit. You know the kinds of people they mostly investigate. You know.

"more Anarchists per square foot out there"
Why are there more Anarchists in Denver than Chicago? Does it have something to do with frontier life? My guess is that the further west you go, the more "anarchists" you're going to find. Because what type of people would move west? Those who are tired of all the bullshit rules established on the east coast. Also there's probably a ton of people blowing up railroad trestles in an attempt to hit the railroad barons in the pocketbooks until they decide to improve working conditions and pay.

Chapter 1: Section 6: Page 51: Lines 116-117 (910-911)

 "Lew, you card! Be serious!"

* * * * * * * * * *

In other words, "Yes, Lew, that's exactly what I'm doing but you can't be that direct. You have to let me spin it in a way that doesn't make it look like my motives are selfish and shitty."