ght
if I'm elicted to the boord."

"You mean city contracts?" I said.

"Sure."

I began to see. The liquor house was looking for more licenses and
would get their pay out of Dan even if the firm didn't make a cent.
But Dan with such capital back of him as well as his aldermanic power
was sure to get the contracts. He would leave the actual work to me
and my men.

I sat down and for two hours tried to make Dan realize how this crowd
wanted to use him. I couldn't. In addition to being blinded by his
overwhelming ambition, he actually couldn't see anything crooked in
what they wanted. He couldn't understand why he should let such an
opportunity drop for someone else to pick up. He had slipped out of my
hands completely. This was where the difference between five or six
years in America as against two hundred showed itself. And yet what
was the old stock doing to offset such personal ambition and energy as
Rafferty stood for?

"No, Dan," I said, "I can't do it. And what's more I won't let you do
it if I can help it."

"Phot do yez mane?" he asked.

"That I'm going to fight you tooth and nail," I said.

He turned red. Then he grinned.

"Well," he said, "it'll be a foine fight anyhow."

I went to the president of the club and told him that here was where
we had to stop Rafferty. He listened and then he said,

"Well, here's where we do stop him."

We went at the job in whirlwind fashion. I spoke a half dozen times
but to save my life I couldn't say what I wanted to say. Every time I
stood up I seemed to see Dan's big round face and I remembered the
kindly things he used to do for the old ladies. And I knew that Dan's
offer to take me into partnership wasn't prompted altogether by
selfish motives. He could have found other men who would have served
his purpose better.

In the meanwhile Dan had organized "Social Clubs" in half a dozen
sections. For the first few weeks of the campaign I never heard of him
except as leading grand marches. But the last week he waded in.
There's no use going into details. He beat us. He rolled up a
tremendous majority. The president of the club couldn't understand it.
He was discouraged.

"I had every boy in the ward out working," he said.

"Yes," I said, "but Dan had every grandmother and every daughter and
every granddaughter out working."

Dan came around to the flat one night after the election. He was as
happy as a boy over his victory.

"Carleton," he said, again, "it'