onsible for
the disreputable political methods of those whom it could never
completely control--methods, too, which had been forced upon it by the
necessity, or the fancied necessity, of meeting conditions as they were
found.

As if in answer to the wish that he might find the worthier task, it was
on this day of Gryson's visit that Blount was given his first
opportunity of entering the wider field. A letter from a local party
chairman in a distant mining town brought an invitation of the kind for
which he had been waiting and hoping. He was asked to participate in a
joint debate at the campaign opening in the town in question, and he was
so glad of the chance that he instantly wired his acceptance.

That evening, at the Inter-Mountain _cafe_ dinner hour, he found his
father dining alone and joined him. In a burst of confidence he told of
the invitation.

"That's good; that's the real thing this time, isn't it?" was the
senator's even-toned comment. "Gives you a right nice little chance to
shine the way you can shine best." Then: "That was one of the things
McVickar wanted you for, wasn't it?--speech-making and the like?"

"Why, yes; he intimated that there might be some public speaking,"
admitted the younger man.

"Well, what-all are you going to tell these Ophir fellows when you get
over there, son?" asked the veteran quizzically. "Going to offer 'em all
free passes anywhere they want to go if they'll promise to vote for the
railroad candidates?"

"Not this year," was the laughing reply. "As I told you a while back,
we've stopped all that."

"You have, eh? I reckon that will be mighty sorry news for a good many
people in the old Sage-brush State--mighty sorry news. You really reckon
you _have_ stopped it, do you, son?"

"I not only believe it; I am in a position to assert it definitely."

"McVickar has told you it was stopped?"

The newly fledged political manager tried to be strictly truthful.

"I have had but the one interview with Mr. McVickar, but in that talk he
gave me to understand that my recommendations would be given due
consideration. And I have said my say pretty emphatically."

The senator's smile was not derisive; it was merely lenient.

"Sat on 'em good and hard, did you? That's right, son; don't you ever
be afraid to say what you mean, and to say it straight from the
shoulder. That's the Blount way, and I reckon we've got to keep the
family ball rolling--you and I. Don't forget that, wh