onsciousness and peek out of his kind
eyes. As he laughed with Ward the colonel spoke: "Criminy, but that's
like him. He's over there talking to Gabe Carnine on the corner now. I
know what he's saying. He has only one speech, and he gets it off to
all of us. He's got his cigar chawed down to a rag, stuck in one
corner of his mouth, and he's saying, 'Gabe--this is the fight of my
life. This is the last time I'm going to ask my friends for help.'
General, I've heard that now, off and on, first and last, from old
Lige at every city, state, county, and lodge election since the war
closed, and I can see how Gabe is twisting and wiggling trying to get
away from it. He's heard it too. Now Lige is saying: 'Gabe, I ain't
going to lie to you; you know me, and you know I've made
mistakes--but they were errors of judgment, and I want to get a
chance to live 'em down. I want to show the young men of this state
that Lige Bemis of the Red Legs is a man--even if he was wild as a
young fellow; it'll prove that a man can rise.' Poor old Gabe--Lige
has got him by the coat front, now. That's the third degree. When he
gets him by the neck and begins to whisper, he's giving him the work
in the uniform rank. He's saying: 'Gabe, I've got to have you with me.
I can't win without you, and I would rather lose than win with you
against me. You stand for all that's upright in this county, and if
you'll come to my aid, I can win.' Here, General--look--Lige's got
him by the neck and the hand. Now for the password right from the
grand lodge, 'Gabe, you'd make a fine state treasurer--I can land it
for you. Make me state senator, and with my state acquaintance, added
to the prestige of this office, I can make a deal that will land you.'
Oh, I know his whole speech," laughed the colonel. "Bob Hendricks is
to be secretary of state, John Barclay is to be governor, Oscar
Fernald is to be state auditor, and the boys say that Lycurgus Mason
has the refusal of warden of the Penitentiary." The colonel chuckled
as he added: "So far as the boys have been able to learn, Lige still
has United States senator, president, and five places in the cabinet
to go on, but Minneola township returns ain't all in yet, and they may
change the result. By the way, General, what did you get?"

The general flushed and replied, "Well, to be perfectly honest with
you, Mart--he did promise me to vote for the dram-shop law."

And in the convention that summer Lige Bemis strode with hi