was consumed
by such a longing for Pen that he scarcely dared speak her name. But
Uncle Denny nodded complacently and said:

"You can always bet on Pen!"

The day after Herr Gluck's visit there was to be a political rally of
the Fleckenstein forces at Cabillo. To the great relief of Dennis and
his two henchmen, Jim made no move to attend the meeting. The first
concrete pouring on the last section of the foundation was to be made
that day and Jim was engrossed with it. Fleckenstein was late in getting
to the meeting. This, too, was better luck than the three conspirators
had hoped for. The meeting was made up almost entirely of farmers who
wanted to hear Fleckenstein's last statement of his pledges.

Before the chairman called the meeting to order, Oscar Ames mounted the
platform and asked permission to say a few words while the audience
waited for Fleckenstein. Oscar then put forth the great effort of his
life.

He squared his great shoulders and threw back his tawny head.

"Fellow citizens, there is a great disgrace coming onto this community.
You all know the Project engineer, James Manning. Well, there ain't been
anyone who's fought him harder or made him more trouble till lately than
I have. But lately, fellow citizens, I've got to know him. I tell you
right now that he's the smartest fellow that ever come into these parts.
He's got some ideas that I'm not smart enough myself to understand, but
I do know enough to realize that if he gets a chance to carry them out
he'll make this Project the center of America!"

Oscar paused and someone called, "Go it, Oscar! Throw her in to low and
you'll make it!"

"Well, fellow citizens, Fleckenstein and his crowd and all the rest of
us, helping with kicks, have worked it so that Jim Manning has been
asked to resign. They tell him that he's so unpopular here that the
Service can't afford to keep him. Understand that? In other words, we
farmers are such fools that we can't appreciate a good man just because
his ideas differ from ours. But we can go crazy over a man like
Fleckenstein because he'll take the trouble to jolly us. Fellow
citizens, I ask you, are you going to sit by while the man that would
make this Project into a valley empire is kicked out?"

Oscar stood for a moment glaring at his grinning hearers. Murphy climbed
up beside him and shoved him aside.

"Down with the Irish!" yelled someone.

"You never paid me the fifty dollars you ran up for whiskey in my