The Washington herald., 1913-02-09

ballot from the pocket of his huge
waist coat and poising it above the hat.
The crowd had pressed around the
First Ward delegation. The convention
had risen to its feet, craning red necks,
and out of the mass Grogan cried:
saw, here, Malachi Nolan, none o
that nowP
Nolan turned his rugged face to-
ward him and said simply:
who's running this obligation, YOU
or me?"
"Well-none o your bulldozing-we
won't stand itp replied Grogan angri-
ly, his blue eyes blazing.
"You get to hell out O. this" And
so saying, Nolan droped the ballot
into the hat and turned to face the
chair.
Have you all voted?" inquired Null
doorn.
First Wardp the secretary called.
Nolan squared his shoulders, not
having looked in his hat or counted the
ballots there, and said slowly and i'm
pressively:
"On behalf av the solid obligation
av the First Ward, / cast twinty-wan
J votes for John w. Underwood"
"Misther Chairman! Misther Chair
MANI cried Grogan, waving his hand
in the air, 81 challenge that votcl
challenge that vote"
The gentleman from the Fifth
Ward challenges the vote"
"Misthcr Chairman" said Nolan,
standing with one heavy foot on his
chair and leveling forehnger at Null
- 1r1arf Tha eTNptla-
man from the Fifth Ward has no right
to challenge the vote av OF the First
Ward-he's not a member of the dilly-
CATION"
Let the First Ward be pollcd," calm
ly ruled Muldoon. Nolan took his foot
from his chair and stepped to Dona-
hue's side Every man in the First
Ward delegation, as his name was
called from the credentials, cried I'm
derwoodw AS the secretary ncared the
name of Donahue, Nolan laid his hand
heavily on the fellows shoulder.
"Donahue," called the secretary.
The fellow squirned under Nolan's
hand
"Donahuc"
Don't let him bluff you" cried
some one from the Fifth Ward.
Vote as You damn please, Jimmie y
THROW the boots into i'm, Donnie "
Soak him one"
Take Your hands off him, Bull No
Ian"
So they bawled and Donahue wrig-
gled But the hand OF Nolan, like the
hand of Douglas, was his own, and
gripped fast. Grogan, his face red, his
eyes on fire, leaped from his place IN
his delegation, and started across the
chairs for Nolan. The big saloon
keeper gave him look ont of his little
eye His left shoulder dipped, his left
fist frightened. GrOgan halted
Vote, Jimmie, my lad" said Nolan,
in soft voice.
Underwood" said Donahuc, in a
whisper. His weak. pinched, hungry
face turned appealingly toward Gro
gan. His blear eyes were filmy with
disappointment.
He votes for John w. Underwood.
Misthcr Chairman" said Nolan COM
placently The vote was unchanged.
The chairman ordered another ballot.
And then, all at once. as if breath
from a sandcd desert had blown into
the room, Underwood was sensible of
a change in the atmosphere. The air
was perhaps no hotter than it had
been for hours at the close OF that
sitting day, no bluer with tobacco
smoke, no heavier with the smell borne
in from Clark Street on hot winds that
had started cool an fresh from the lake
four blocks away, smell compounded
of many smells, the smell ascending
from foul and dark cellars beneath the
sidewalk. the smell OF stale beer. the
amnoniac smell OF filthy pavements,
mingled with the feculencc of unclean
bodies that had sweated for hours III
the vitiated air OF that low-ceilinged,
crowded room. 1t had a strange moral
density that oppressed him, that op-
presses all, even the politicians, for
they ceased from cursing and from
speech. and now sat sullen, silent, sus-
piciously eyeing their companions. 1t
was an atmosphere charged with some
ominouS foreboding, some awful fear.
Underwood had never felt that atmos-
phere before, yet. with gasp that
came not as an effect of the heat, he
recognized its meaning.
A hush fell, Muldoon, his black,
curly iOShS SulllillS Will pCiSpll dlIOIi
was leaning on his improvised gavel,
his keen eye, the Irish eye that so
readily seizes such situations, darting
into every face before him.
And suddenly came that for which
they were waiting. A man entered the
hall and strode straight across the
floor into the Fifth Ward delegation.
into the group where the Underwood
men were clustered about their leader.
He wore evening clothes, his black dinner
coat and white shirt bosom striking a
vivid note into the scene. He walked
briskly. but his mind was so intent
upon his pose that it was not until he
had removed his cigarette from his lips
and had observed Underwood, that his
white teeth showed beneath his reddish
mustache in the well-known smile of
George r. Baldwin. He elbowed his
way into the very midst of the Un-
derwood men from the Fifth Ward.
and leading one of them aside, talked
with him an instant, and then returned
him, as it were, to his place in the
delegation. Then he brought forth an
other, whispered to him for an earnest
moment, and sent him back. with a