The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-09-26
CHATTER V. Some COnuueSt-

CHATTER V Some Conquest. mounted the steps and approach ed the group of reporters in time to hear MT. Jones. the Governors secre- tary. get them.
 caught out motoring last night in the shower; and he's put the whole cola into neuralgia. Here's a little state ment about the graft prosecutions, if you want it.'
 had got rear enough to hear one of the men whisper to another Drunk again!'
 He was not drunk" I protested aloud. T drove him home last n4ghr from -
 F'Mr. Moore, cone right in," Jones yelled so loud that I knew he meant to shut me off 'It won't be necessary to say anything about the cold, boys. The doctors got him well on the road to recovery already. He wanted to come out and see you, but Dr. Cooley won't let him. He'll be O. K. in a couple of days.''
 The man nearest him took a bun de of typewriter sheets, and began to distribute them among the other five as they walked grumbling down the steps and off.
 ''The Governor will see you right away" the secretary now told me. And he led me up the stairs by which had helped get the unconscious man the previous evening. The prompt ness of my reception argued for some chance yet.
 It argued dead wrong. The instant | I had been admitted to the bedroom his excellency looked me over with bloodshot eyes under an ice-pack, an | expression his m about as welcoming as the face of Bob Harris the last time had touch 1 ed him for a five. He had not offered his hand or a syllable of greeting. l ''So 1t really is you,'' heh finally | spoke as if uttering an indictment | 1T once spent four months in vaudeville, and knew the value of getting a laugh out of a cold audience If you could.
 I'm afraid you're right" I con i fessed solemnly.
 He ignored my f1ippancy, save that | his voice was a trifie more peevfsh as he went on:
 i 'I saw the name on the bill boards last night and went in. I didn't really think. though. that the editor l Of the reputable magazine would have | the nerve to send me a movie actor | for the serious business in hand I l SoPpOSCu 41C u SSllu H1o du | "I haven't been in moving pictures for two years. I've been writing tna, | long"
 Well, you can't write for me. Will son should have known I'd require s man of some ability and reputation
 That got under my skin. We had | some real cowboys in the o. K. Ube. l crowd. I had to guIp twice to keep | from handing Governor Billy Hammil l 0f 1I,o
 served in memory from those cow l boys conversations.
 I didn't want his thousand dollars, | if I had to starve to do without it. I didn't want to write his autobiogra- | phy, if breaking stones was the alter native. I just wanted to tell him how much farther I'd like to see him.
 Then it came over me that I'd just
 promised the only girl in world te
 re-elect this man Governor of the
 state. I realized that the only chance
 l had of fulfilling my pledge was by
 writing his autobiography and making him appear in it about all the thing. I now judged he wasn't. Was I go , , 1 tug to let puny, sick man like hin stand between me and the perrorm ance of my VOW to a goddess? Not b,
 any manner of means! S'I think that's an,'' he said souriy
 WlIn a SnlIC or ms eyes toward tht
 door I had just entered. The deuce it isl" I answered
 Governor Hammil. I've just come
 thousand miles at a lot of expense
 loss of valuable time. and considera : ble discomfort to write an autobiog
 raphy for you. Incidentally, I've jus given my selomn word to re-elect yo,
 Governor of this state, and when , go a thousand miles and give rn1
 word, I generally do what I started to do.' Anyhow, Alice had just said
 I did And now, I'm going to write
 your autobiography to begin with.''
 He was staring at me with the veins
 swelling in his forehead He burst
 forth in utter rage of outraged dig
 nifty.
 "You impertinent, ill-bred fooli To
 talk to me--the Governor of this state like that! Get out of here! Get
 out!
 When I was a little kid I was so
 pugnacious that, after being ha1ed to l court three or four times by my vic
 tims' parents my father went to grea
 pains to teach me to put my hands
 in my pockets when I felt them grow
 ing too f1stlike. The habit stuck l
 put my hands into my pockets now.
 HammiPs eyes opened and bu1gec
 at my right pocket. He parted his
 lips and dropped his jaw and mace
 three attempts to yell before he got
 sound that would have scared a
 mouse He threw up his legs to raise
 the covers between me and his face,
 then, and. Jumping toward the farther
 side of the bed, lost his balance and
 roled off Finding himself on the
 floor, he went under the bed com
 oletely, and there got his wind to cur dle the air.
 Two husky citizens jumped inro
 that room at once Jones had al- ready jumped toward me- The husk-
 ies pinioned my arms before I could
 move, got my hands out of my pock-
 cts. and then put thefr own hands in
 It took them about i've seconds to try l all fhe nockefa [ h