ons."

Stevens acquiesced, for it would never do to disagree with the boss.

"It's very kind of you, Senator," he began, changing the subject, "to
come with me to welcome the new Senator from my State, my old friend
and colleague."

An inscrutable smile--a smile, yet a cold one--accompanied Peabody's
answer.

"I have always found, Stevens," he said, "that a little attention
like this to a new man is never wasted, and I make it a rule not to
overlook opportunities."

Again the senior Senator from Mississippi acquiesced, and he laughed
heartily at Peabody's keen insight into human nature.

"I think you'll like Langdon," Stevens remarked after a pause, "and
you'll find him easy to deal with. Just put up any measure for the
benefit of the South and Langdon will go the limit on it. Even a
Republican majority doesn't mind a little Democratic support, you
know. I think he's just the man you can use in this gulf naval base
bill."

"You can swing him?" asked Peabody, sharply.

Stevens drew closer to Peabody.

"I elected him, and he knows it," he chuckled.

The boss nodded.

"And it's likely that a man like Langdon, new to politics--a simple
gentleman of the old school, as you describe him--might have
considerable influence on opinion throughout the country."

Langdon's colleague grasped the arm of the senatorial dictator.

"He's just the man we want, Senator. He's one of those old fellows you
just have to believe when he talks. He'll do what I suggest, and he
can make the public believe what we think."

"Then you guarantee him?" snapped the boss.

"Unreservedly, Senator."

"All right," said Peabody. "He goes on the naval committee. That ought
to be enough honor for a man who a year ago was growing cotton on an
old plantation miles away from civilization."

"We have control now of all the land about Altacoola that can be
used," said Stevens. "I have had Norton, the Congressman from
Langdon's district, working on it. There isn't a foot of land there
which we do not now control under options, and," he added, with a
chuckle, "the options were dirt cheap."

Peabody grunted approvingly.

"There won't be any New York fortune in it, but it ought to be
a pretty tidy bit," he said. "Now, if we could only get Langdon
interested, directly or indirectly, in a financial way, that would
clinch everything."

The senior Senator from Mississippi shook his head.

"It's too risky. He's old-fashioned, you know--has about