Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1913-12-06

to lower himself to his opponents
level and take advantage of it-of the
treachery in the Conover ranks! If
But Ansel was still pouring out the
food of his ill-temper.
"Whipsawed us, right and left" he
declared. Beat us at every point as
easy as taking candy from a baby
What are we doing in politics? We're
a lot of silly amateurs against"
Were a lot of honest men against
a lot of crooks. And in the long run
well win. We"
"The long run, Ell? Well, the run
has begun, and they've got us on it
We're beat~
"Poor old Ansel," laughed Give
chow many times during the past
fortnight have / heard you say that
And every time you pick yourself up
again and go on with the fight. just
as you'll do now"
"Not on your life I-oh, well,
suppose l will, if it comes to that!
But it's burning, blazing shame"
"If it wasn't for just such burning
blazing shames,' there'd be no need
! for our campaign. It's to crush such
'shames' that we're working. Cheer
up! I've great hopes for tonight's
meeting"
Tersely he described his trip, the
drawbacks he had encountered, and
the better chances that seemed to at
tend the Grafton rally. Ansel inter
spersing the tale with a volley of
queries and explosives.
"I'd heard of this ess-muzzling, y
said he as Standish ended, land
have one way of blocking it. I've ar
ranged for your speeches and ads,
and advance notices to be printed in
the biggest paper in the next state
and scattered all through the noun
tain state as campaign documents.
don't think even Conover can block
that move"
"Splendid!' cried Standish. "Old
man, you're a genius"
"No, I'm not contradicted Ansel
rather ruefully, "but someone else is
| don't know who"
81 don't understand"
"Why, the idea was sent to me
three days ago, anonymously. Type
written on foolscap. No signature.
What d'you thing of that 2"
Anonymously?
Eyes. | wonder why. The ideas
so good, one would think the origin
ator'd claim it. Unless"
UNLESS it came from the Conover
camp"
Gust what occurred to me. Any
how. I've adopted the suggestion.
suppose you'd have refused to accept
anonymous help, eh?"
Every man to his own folly. It's
done now"
at sure is. And with a few more
such tips, Conover would be done,
too. He's carried matters highland
eddy for years, but now maybe some
one he's ridden rough-shod over has
turned on him."
The great night had come. Give
and Ansel, arriving at the opera
house, found that gaudy, gayly
! lighted auditorium full to the doors.
On the stage sat the mayor, the pro-
prietor of one of the papers, a half
dozen clergymen and a score of civic
dignitaries. The boxes were filled
with addressed women. Evening
suits blended with the less conspicu-
Gus costumes of the spectators who
stretched from stage to entrance,
from orchestra to roof. A band below
the stage played popular and national
airs.
The news of Gives eccentric pre-
convention tour, of his eloquence, his
clean manliness and the obstacles he
had overcome, had drawn hundreds
through sheer curiosity. More had
come because they were weary of
Conover's rule and eagerly desired to
! learn what his young antagonist had
to offer them in place of bossism.
Skilled, by experience, in reading
the sentiment of crowds, Give, as he
stepped onto the stage, felt instinc-
lively that the main body of the house
was kindly disposed toward him. Not
only was this proven by the spon-
taneous applause that heralded his
appearance, but by ripple-a rustic
of interets that rose on every hand.
The sound nerved him. He considered
once more how much hung on to-
nights success or failure, and the adj
vance augury was as music to his
ears.
The mayor, a little, nervous man
with a monstrous mustache and a
cast in one eye, opened the meeting
with brief speech, defining the pur-
pose of the evening, and ended by
introducing the candidate. Give came
forward. A volley of applause such
as he had never before known hailed
him. He bowed and bowed again,
waiting for it to subside. But it did
not. 1t continued from every quar-
ter of the house.
From pleasure Give felt a grow
| ing uneasiness. The majority of the
audience seemed to have relapsed into
silence, and were staring about them
in wonder at the unduly continued
ovation. The humping of feet and
canes and the shouts of welcome in
creased rather than diminished. 1t
settled down into a steady volume of
sound, regular and rhythmic, shaking
the whole auditorium, losing any hint
at spontaneity and Gegenerating into
a deafening, organized babel.
The men on the platform glanced at
each other in angry bewilderment.
For fully ten minutes the tumult en-
dured, rendering ineligible words
out of the question. The mayor, as
chairman, raped for silence. But his
IT'S we're in vain. The sound was
/ DIR lwned IN the vaster, reechoing vol
re- OF ~ thmic sound. Give held up
/ 81 o.,4knx-sfxy