finest, and the most luxurious hostelry west of the Missouri River," the Inter-Mountain Hotel, in the Sage

oor space of the lobby-debating-ground dear to the heart of the country delegate-and particular pains had been taken to make this semi-public forum, where the burning question of the moment could be caucussed and the shaky partisan resworn to fealty, attractive and h

prised to learn that his father was registered in permanence for one of the private dining-room suites at the Inter-Mountain. It was amply evident that the simple life which had been the rule of the "Circle-Bar" ranc

. Beyond giving him a good many introductions, as the opportunities for them offered in the stirring life of the hotel, his father made few demands upon him, and t

ability as a social sponsor, the traffic manager was both able and willing. Almost before he had time to realize it, Blount had been put in touch with the busy, breezy life of the

led Blount away from the Inter-Mountain luncheon to share a table with hi

nds. Naturally, I expected some sort of a welcome as ex-Senator D

mile was i

nship is cutting a good bit of ice, if you care to know it. I've met a number of men in the past few days who have

derided the

cent future for you. One might almost imagine that the prophets are insp

ou know that i

hifting the point of attack: "You're mighty innocent, aren't you, old man? But

ve told y

run for attorney-gene

idn't know myself, Dick," was the sober

ircles and uttering loud and plaintive cries, especially Jim Rankin, who had-or thought he had-a lead-pipe cinch on the job. Dort

this evidence that the powers were at work; almost a breach of confidence. There was no avoiding the distasteful conclusion. Without consultin

ven't authorized any such talk as this you've

mile was a grin of c

any aspersions when I say that it's exactly like him. If he has slated you, you are booked to run; and if he runs you, you'll

-justly indignant, h

arm. I haven't said that I would accept the nomination if it were tendered me, and I am not at all s

ou've got nerve enough to buck the old m-your father, I mean? Why, great

free moral agent; I haven't surrendered any right of decis

plate, and his rejoinder wa

ntradict the talk as I can?"

l warm enough t

Then he remembered the claims of friendship. "I'll be frank with you, Dick; this thing has been mentioned

tongue or when to make it wag away from the subject which has reached its nicely calculated climax. While the flush of irritation was still making him ashamed that he had shown so much warmth, Blount found himself go

ding the smoking-room unoccupied, went to lounge in a lazy-chair standing in a little alcove lined with bookcases and half screened by the racks of the newspaper files. Notwithstanding the successful t

t of the building, one would say, before two men entered the smoking-room, coming down the corridor from the grill. Blount saw them, and he made sure that they saw him. But when t

had been introduced on his first day in the capital, but whose name he could not now recall. "This scheme of the senator's for shoving his son into the race for the at

se McVickar will d

ll take a few more sections of the railroad mesa-land under the Clearwater ditch. That was what h

ilroad something, and take good hard money for it. It's a cinch. The railroad can't afford to have the courts against

cable to be imagined? His first impulse was to confront the two; to demand proofs; to do and say what a loyal son should. But the crushing conviction that they were discussing

still more painfully evident for the unwilling listener, the men went away. For a long time after they had gone, Blount sat crumpled in th

this he did not reason in the miserable hour wrought out in the quiet of the club smoking-room. But when he got up to go, another prompting was forcing its way to the surface-a prompting to

den the breach which must be opened between his father and himself. Possibly it might lead him to the bar of justice as that father's accuser, but even in that hard case he must n

ting with his father. To make even a chance meeting impossible, he crossed the street, and, passing through the Capit

de it imperative for him to see Gantry before the traffic manager should leave his office for the day. His business with the railroad man was purely personal. He meant to ask Gantry a few pointe

reat train-shed. Half-way up the platform Blount met the west-bound Overland steaming in from the eastern yards. At the Sierra Avenue crossing the yard crew was cutting off a private car. Blount saw the number on

is this?" a

orr-the vice-prisidint av t

pon the wing of occasions, it seemed. And in the light of the overheard conversation in the club smoking-room, it was only too easy