The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-06
CHAPTER XXI.
THE HAND OF THE MASTER.

vfous incumbent Of the seat In the upper
house at Washington had foreseen how ex-
traordinarily bitter would be the fight over
the toga he laid down perhaps he would
not have died just before the end OF the
session that completed his term: At any
rate the new bills were still reposing In
the breast pockets or the locked desks
while the daily sessions of the House and
Senate consisted Of dispensing with the
reading of the journal. wishing that the
prayer could be dispensed with ALSO and
adiourning The few members who took
the trouble to go to the Capitol to do this
were looked upon as the best fellows in
the world for their generous performance
Of what somebody had TO do,
But there was no tendency to shirk at
tendance at the caucus. BY one OF the
queer perversions OF the theory of our gov
eminent the man who was to represent the
greatest OF the Rocky Mountain States In
the federal Senate was to be selected by
that caucus which met daily, fought con-
tinuaIly and refused admission to four
ninths Of the members Of the Legislature.
Such were the actual conditions-wirh some
additional details OF the fghting, about
which Shacklett knew more than anybody
else and some OF which he never told-as
the first week passed with no choice and
Shacklett gaining a little each day over his
opponents.
Then came the big sensation. Everybody
out West heard Of IL at the time, and every
politician still remembers 1t. 1t was cum
ningly designed to kill Off Shacklett, and
seemed to have done so the day IT appeared.
But nobody expected Shacklett to take it
In the way he did. for every one supposed
him to be thoroughly practical politician,
always fighting to a finish.
Shacklett smiled when he saw the morn
ing paper. and seemed especially amused at
the scare heads in which the opposition
press INDUCED. There had been some ad-
vance speculation among the men gathered
In the Times Office the day before to
how he would look when he read the arti-
Gle which the managing editor had just or
dered the most vitriolic pen on the paper
to write. But none of the predictions sug-
gested smile, for none of the men knew
ShackIett.
The result Of the conference between
Swart, the managing editor Of the Times;
Pickens, who was managing Sommers's
camraign, and a man from Illinois whose
name was not mentioned at the time, was
not known to another person until the
Times appeared the next morning. Part
of the force Of the publication lay in its
unexpectedness; the rest of the momentum
IT had came from its holiness. People gen.
orally believe any charge that Is made
with sufficient energy and particularly If
IL be something they never dreamed OF be-
fore. They believed this one, but they ex-
pected Shacklett to deny it in a way that
would keep things boiling for weeks at
least.
Released from the thralldom of allitera-
ton and debased from wood type, the head
lines told quite as much as did the article
below. lacking only few minor details
They said that Shacklett had been a MEM
Der of the lobby at Springfield before COM
ing West. and had been thoroughly mixed
up with the notorious Chicago bills, the
scandal OF which had been carried even to
the mountains. They also said that, In
case OF his election, the opposition party
had arranged to begin prosecutions back in
Illinois and send a requisition for
the new senator from the splen-
did State, the insignia OF which was
never sullied. and whose sun should not be
sent down in disgrace for Shackletts sin.
But 1t was not the ALTERATION at which
Shacklett smiled. His was the smile of a
man who had straight flush in his hand
when the other side Of the table displayed
four aces. He saw the humor in the situa-
tion and enjoyed being the only man who
knew all about it.
Fletcher and Van Steen took II different
ly. They came in with angry faces and
flashing eyes to tell Shacklett that the
trick was the most dastardly ever seen, and
that they would shoot Swart at sight If
Shackiett thought 1t would not do further
injury to their campaign. Before they were
entirely through the door Shacklett had
banished the smile, and his face was the
inscrutable mask that was the only one the
Westerners knew.
81 tell you men that I'm ali right "
Shacklett said to his two chief lieutenants
land you know that when 1 say that II
ends IL. II you fellows stick to me and LET
me play this thing out We'll all win. I'm
going to take you through fire and hot
water, but If you fan by the wayside you'll
miss the train that's going right into the
station. The first thing I want you to do
Is to stay away from me till IL O'Clock;
then want you to come here"
When they had gone Shacklett took a
carriage down to a hotel, and as he got to
his room sent for a messenger Next he
wrote two notes and told the messenger boy
TO hurry with them as fast as a dollar
could make him go. Then he sat down.
took letter from his pocket and read II
over twice. There is no means of tellins
what he thought, for his face showed moth.
ing, but the letter was from the only cir
that Shacklett ever even thought he loved
He had come West to gain money enough
and position sufficiently high to marry her
and for five years the girl had been the
object of all his work and the expected re-
ward for all his successes. The fact thai
he might have married at any time cut nc
figure. since Shacklett knew perfectly wei
that he ought not TO marry the girl unit
he was rich enough TO give her the life she
deserved. That had been all argued out
and settled-by Shacklett-in spite OF the
views OF the girl herself.
He had left what some of his friends haC
thought a very fine position back in Illinoi.
TO come West and take the chances OF pol
itics. and incidentally of the profession OF
law, with a well-worked-out plan in hi.
head. He came determined to be a senator
from the State that had attracted him a.
affording the best opportunities for a skill
ful manipulation of politics; but that, after
all. was only incidental TO becoming able e
marry Mary Stoddard.
When he had gone to bed. at O'CLOCK