The Minneapolis journal., 1902-08-27
CHAPTER XNII-Continued.

Chapter XVII-Continued.
Hold on a minute" said the Judge:
"let's get at it straight. What do you
want with me?"
III tell you,' volunteered Heating
You see the boys are getting In line
again for this convention. They are the
old file that used to rule the roost before
the Herald got too strong for them, and
they rely on Mr.. Harkless's being sick to
beat Hedge Holloway with that Gaines
County man, McCune. Now, none of us
here want Rod McCune, guess. We had
trouble enough once with him and his
heelers, and now that Mr.. Harlless' is
down, they've taken advantage of it to
raise revolution: Rod McCune for con-
Eress! He's dirty-hearted swindler-I
hope Miss Sherwood will pardon the strong
eXpression-and everybody thought the
Herald had driven him out of politics,
though it never told how it did it; but
he's up on top again. Now, the question
Is to beat him. We hold the committees,
but the boys have been lighting the com
mittees-call 'em the 'Harkess Ring and
never understood that the Herald would
have turned down In second if it
thought we weren't straight. Well, we
saw a week ago that Hedge Holloway
was going to lose to McCune; we figured
1t out pretty exactly, and there amt ray
Of hope for Hedge. We wrote to Mr..
Harklcss about it and asked him to come
down-if he'd been on the ground last
Monday and had begun to work, l don't
say but what his personal influence might
have saved HallOWay-but friend Of his.
where he's staying, answered the letter:
said Mr.. HarkleSS was down with re-
lapse and was very fretful; and he'd taken
the liberty Of reading the letter and tenn
pOrarily suppressing it under doctors or
derS; they were afraid he'd come, sick
he was, from a sense Of duty, and asked
us to withdraw the letter, and referred us
to Mr.. Harkless's representative on the
Herald. So we applied here to Miss
Sherwood and that's why we had this
meeting. Now, Ealloway is honest
everybody knows that-and I don't say
but what he's been the best available ma
terial Mr.. Harkless had to send to Wash
ington; but he amt any too bright
Mr. Martin interrupted the speaker. Il
reckon, maybe. you never heard that lee
ture Of his on the Past, Present, and Flu
ture?"
Besides that" Heating continued
"Halloway has had it long enough and
he's got enough glory out of it, and, except
for getting beat by Rod McCune, I be-
lieve he'd almost as soon give it up. Well,
we discussed all this and that, and
couldn't come to any conclusion. We
didn't want to keep on with losing fight
If there was any way to put up winner,
though Of course all recognized that
Mr.. Harkless would want to support
Hedge to the death, and that's what he'd
do if he was on the ground. But Miss
Sherwood mentioned that she d had ono
note since his last illness began, and he'd
entrusted her and her associates on the
paper with the entire policy, and she
would take the responsibility for anything
we determined on. Mr. Smith said the
only thing to do was to give up HaloWay
and get a man that could beat McCune;
Hedge would recognize it himself that
orl,- bir,cr To do nd "a
could retire gracefully. Miss Sherwood
said she was still more or less a stranger,
and asked what man we could hnd VINO
was also a man wanted; somebody that
had worked good deal, but had never
had any office. 1t was to such man
she could promise the Herald S support,
as for time the paper was being operated
almost independently, it might be said, OF
Mr. Harkess. Well, expect 1t came to
all OF us at the same time, but 1t was Mr..
| Bence here that said it first"
Mr.. Bence was the gentleman who had
walked about saying, "A glorious cOncep-
tion" and he now thrust one hand into
his breast and extended the other in a
wide gesture, and looked as impress
sive as a very young man with white eye
brOWS can look.
The name of Harkless," he said alb
ruptly 1.-The name of Harkless will sweep
the convention like the fire OF a west
ern prairie; the name Of Harkless will
thunder over their astonished heads and
strike a peal of joy bells in every home
in the district; it will re-echo in the cor
ridors of posterity and TEEN with pros
perity like a mighty river. The name OF
Harkless will reverberatc In that conven-
ton hall, and, they shall sit ashamed.
.'Harkless!'' exclaimed the judge. ''Why
didn't some one think Of that long ago?'
Then you approve?" asked Keating.
Yes, I think I do!
...., .Loo1- l,o.5e x,;+I, l,i,,,
well swim out" he exclaimed 1T will
be the same everywhere. A lot Of the
old crowd themselves will be swept along
with us when we make our nomina ton
People feel that that Cross Roads busi-
ness ought never to have been allowed
to happen, and they'd like to make it ur
to him some way. There are just two
difficulties, Haloway and Mr.. Harkless
himself. It's a sure thing that he
wouldn't come out against kedge anc
that he'd refuse to let his name be useo
against him. Therefore, we've got tx
keep it quiet from him; the whole thing
has to be worked quietly. The McCune
folks were quiet until they thought they
were sure; we've got to be quieter still
Well, we've made out a plan'
"And a plan that will operate added
Mr.. Bence. For the name of Harkles<
shall Mr.. Heating interrupted hin
energetically:
1--WE explain it to all the Halloway
delegates, you see, and to all the shaky
McCune people, and interview all the
undecided ones. The McCune crowd may
see them afterwards but they can't fl
men in this district against John Eark
less All we've got to do is to pass tho
word. It's all kept quiet, you under
stand We go into the convention, anc
the names of Halloway and McCune are
placed before it. Then will come speech