d. An overwhelming desire suddenly took possession of
him to grip this blackmailer by the throat, to strangle him where he
stood; or, if not, at least to turn upon him with that old-time terrible
anger, before which whole conventions had once cowered. But in the same
moment the Governor realised this was not to be. Only its righteousness
had made his wrath terrible; only the justice of his anger had made him
feared. Now the foundation was gone from under his feet; he had knocked
it away himself. Three times feeble was he whose quarrel was unjust.
Before this country editor, this paid speaker of the Railroad, he stood,
convicted. The man had him at his mercy. The detected briber could not
resent an insult. Genslinger rose, smoothing his hat.

"Well," he said, "of course, you want time to think it over, and you
can't raise money like that on short notice. I'll wait till Friday noon
of this week. We begin to set Saturday's paper at about four, Friday
afternoon, and the forms are locked about two in the morning. I hope,"
he added, turning back at the door of the room, "that you won't find
anything disagreeable in your Saturday morning 'Mercury,' Mr. Derrick."

He went out, closing the door behind him, and in a moment, Magnus heard
the wheels of his buckboard grating on the driveway.

The following morning brought a letter to Magnus from Gethings, of the
San Pueblo ranch, which was situated very close to Visalia. The letter
was to the effect that all around Visalia, upon the ranches affected by
the regrade of the Railroad, men were arming and drilling, and that the
strength of the League in that quarter was undoubted. "But to refer,"
continued the letter, "to a most painful recollection. You will, no
doubt, remember that, at the close of our last committee meeting,
specific charges were made as to fraud in the nomination and election
of one of our commissioners, emanating, most unfortunately, from the
commissioner himself. These charges, my dear Mr. Derrick, were directed
at yourself. How the secrets of the committee have been noised about,
I cannot understand. You may be, of course, assured of my own
unquestioning confidence and loyalty. However, I regret exceedingly
to state not only that the rumour of the charges referred to above is
spreading in this district, but that also they are made use of by the
enemies of the League. It is to be deplored that some of the Leaguers
themselves--you know, we number in our ranks many