y his outpourings, ran at him and struck him.
He was a little man, and though he leaped when he struck, the blow
landed no higher than the shoulder that Harlan turned to him. And when
he leaped again the young man caught him by the wrist and smiled down on
him, unperturbed.

"If that's the way you talk politics, Sam, I'll have to adjourn the
debate," he said, quietly. And the story of that went the rounds,
accompanied by much laughter, and the big, sturdy, serene young man who
was master of his own passions met smiles wherever he went.

Another story preceded him, too. "Fighting" MacCracken, of the Jo Quacca
neighborhood, smarting ever since that day in the yard of "The
Barracks," jealous of his prestige as a man of might, offered obscene
and brutal insult to the name of Thelismer Thornton in the hearing of
his grandson. It had been hinted previously along the border that the
six-foot scion of the Thorntons was a handy man in a scrap, but now his
prowess was surely established. MacCracken went about, a living
advertisement of how effectually righteous anger can back up two good
fists.

Therefore, respect attended on good-humor and went with, or ahead of,
the candidate.

He wondered at himself sometimes. He hardly understood the zeal that now
animated him, so sudden a convert. But the zest of youth was in him; the
spirit of the toil of the big woods, of the race with drought when the
drives are going down, the everlasting struggle with nature's forces,
the rivalry between man and man where accomplishment that bulks large in
the eyes of men is the only accomplishment that counts--all these
spurred him to make good, now that he had begun. In the open arena of
life his training had been that of man to man, and the best man taking
the prize. And his reading during the long evenings had been more in the
way of education in public matters than he had realized. As for ideals,
he had followed the masterful men who preached a gospel that appealed to
him, living the life of the open, battling for the weak against the
selfishly strong--so it seemed to the one who studied their achievements
on the printed page. With his own opportunity now thrust upon him,
Harlan Thornton determined to make candor his code, honesty his system.
He entertained no false ideas of his personal importance. But his lack
of experience did not daunt him. He simply made up his mind that he
would go forward, keeping soul and heart open, as well as eyes and