Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1913-09-13
by The Bobbs- Merrill Company


the First, provided the colonel would
withdraw his opposition. He prided
himself on being a man who harbored
no resentments. So he sent Dan
Ford. his private secretary, to open
negotiations for peace.
The colonel had recognized the
coming of the heat by donning his
suit of linen, with a red tie at his
throat to give the touch of color he
always loved, and he had got out his
broad-leavcd Panama hat for its
fifteenth season. Ford found him
seated in the leather chair, swinging
one thin leg over the other, his white
hose wrinkling over his low shoes,
telling Carroll how Grant came to
Springfield from Galena seeking a
commission in the army. Ford diplo-
matically preached the subject of a
conference between the colonel and
the senator. The colonel heard him
TO the end, but said nothing. His
mustache simply lifted a little with
the curl of his lip. Ford was evident
ly disappointed.
Have you any reply?" he asked, "or
any message?"
Yes" said the colonel, and his
gray eyes flashed under his shaggy
brows. Present my compliments to
Senator Warren, and tell him that if
he ever presumes TO speak to me
again in all his life, I'll slap his face,
and If he resents it. I'll kill him"
Ford turned to bow, and the colonel,
turning to Carroll, said:
las | was saying, General Palmer
happened to go into the adjutant-gen-
erals Office and saw Grant smoking
corn-cob pipe and working away on
muster rolls at broken table
propped up in one corner of the room
The old forage cap he had worn in
the Mexican war was lying on the
table. 1t was the only hat he had in
those days"
The next morning an interview
with Warren appeared in all the pa
pers.
Il would prefer" the senator was
reported as saying, Ito retire to pri-
vate life and resume my interrupted
law practice, if | were not compelled
to seek vindication by the bushwack-
ing of this doting old migrate, who,
disappointed in his attempts to
monopolize patronage that belongs to
patriotic party workers, now skulks
behind the sympathy his years and
infirmities excite, to wage a guerrilla
warfare"
The colonel read the interview at
breakfast. He sat at the table with
one paper propped up before him and
four others beside his plate, his eye
glasses on his nose, and ate his oat-
meal and his beefsteak and his boiled
eggs just as he did on every morning
of the year. Then he drank the half
cup of coffee that he always reserved,
with its cream slowly coagulating at
the surface, for the end of his meal
because 1t was cooler then, laid his
napkin down and shuffled slowly out.
Half an hour later a man stopped
by his chair in the lobby and said
something to the colonel that made
him drop his paper, and look up over
his eyeglasses with a scowl. The
man was known as Birdy Quinn, and
he had lost his job in the water office
the week before, because Warren
wished to make room for a fellow who
could deliver more votes at the COM
ing primaries than Birdy could.
ne you sure?" the colonel asked
ASure! Isn't it all over the ward
his morning."
You're sure that Pat Gibbons con-
sented to run as Warren's candidate
for state senator in the First dis
trict against Carroll-after promising
me-me?" He bent his brows angrily
and pointed with long forefinger at
his own breast.
We'll, hells bells!" said Quinn
Wasn't Baldwin working with him
half the night?"
The colonel took his glasses from
his nose and swinging them by their
heavy cord, blinked with his old eyes
at the square of sunlight blazing in
the Clark street entrance, across
which, as on a wildly Illuminated
screen, the crowds on the sidewalk
fitted like trembling figures in a
kinetoscope Presently he lifted him
self heavily from his chair and gath
cred up his newspapers and his stick.
We'll, Birdy," he S: 4 YEARLY, 81
guess I've got one more fight left in
me-"
Most men thought 1t was Warren's
interview that caused the colonel to
consent at last to lead the opposition
against him, though some said it was
but the fascination of politics, which
is like the fascination of the sea. so
that a man who follows 1t once must
follow it till he dies.
Il never thought I'd live to see the
day when I'd be glad to find the old
mans chair empty" said Eph Hark-
ness of Macoupin that afternoon. He
had come up from Carlinville in re-
Spouse to telegram from the colonel.
and having registered, and given his
bag and linen buster to a bell-boy,
was removing his big felt hat to mop
his wet brow
I'm afraid he won't be able to
stand the strain of campaign" said
Carroll.
Stand the strain! Him." ex-
IL