ble
advantage in being comparatively unknown. He had never permitted
himself the luxury of making enemies: except for a few ex-reporters who
had once worked on the Balloon he had not a foe in the world.
Quimbleton had been eager to import a covey of gunmen from other
cities, but when these arrived there was really nothing for them to do.
They were glad to accept jobs from Bishop Chuff, and were well paid for
waylaying and sniping the few grapes and apples that had escaped
previous pogroms.

There was only one plank in Bleak's modest platform, but he walked it
so happily that it began to look like a gangplank leading onto the Ship
of State. He expressed his doctrine very agreeably in his speech
accepting the party nomination; though credit should be given to
Theodolinda, who had assisted him by a little private seance before he
addressed the convention.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said (looking as he spoke at one of the
handbills announcing his candidacy for the dignity of mouthpiece of the
nation)--"I issue dodgers, but I never dodge the issue. I can Take It
or Let It Alone, but frankly, I prefer to Take It. I hope I speak
modestly: yet candor insists that both by past training and present
inclination I feel myself fitted to deal with the problems of this
exalted office. If elected to this high place of trust I shall regard
myself solely as the servant of the public, solely as the
representative of your sovereign will. As I raise the glass or peel the
lemon, I shall not act in any individual capacity. My own good cheer (I
beg you to believe) will be my last thought. I shall remember, in every
gesture and every gulp, that my thirst is in reality the Thirst of a
Nation, delegated to me by ballot; that my laughter and song (if things
should go so far) are truly the mirth and music of a proud people
expressing themselves through me. I shall be at all times accessible to
my fellow-men, solicitous to hear their counsel and command. Believing
(as I do) in moderation, yet I should not dream of permitting private
sentiment to interfere with public interest when more violent measures
should seem desirable.

"I like to think, my fellow-citizens, that you have conferred this
nomination upon me not wholly at random. I like to think that I am only
expressing your thought when I say that many drinkers have been the
worst enemies of the cause we all hold dear. The alcoholshevik and the
I.W.W.--the I Wallow in Wine faction--have don