his handshake that
somehow had seemed to rob the apology of its satisfaction. And when
McCorquodale had proffered a broken cigar Kendrick had accepted it with
an uneasy feeling that he had made somewhat of a fool of himself; for
Phil was no prig and he found that McCorquodale was a pretty good sort
with a certain whimsicality that was not to be denied.

He rested his paddle for a moment and floated in the dark, listening.
As soon as he got home he would go to the refrigerator for a piece of
raw beefsteak for his swollen eye. Darn that eye anyway! He would
have to hibernate up in the woods till it became more presentable. Far
behind him in the mist somewhere the yard-engine was still coughing;
across the water came a subdued squeal of protesting flanges, followed
by the distant bang of shunted box-cars. He listened for any sound of
the harbor patrol boat; but even had he bothered to show a light it
would have been obliterated in the fog, which was the worst Kendrick
ever had experienced. A raw beefsteak poultice-- He fancied the
fog-horn was a little louder; he would need to keep more to the left or
he would find himself hitting Mug's Landing, west of Island Park, or
wind up away over at the Point somewhere.

He resumed his paddling. This matter of his uncle-- Was it possible
that in pursuit of political ambitions his uncle was forgetting the
principles for which he professed to stand as a public man? Was it
just possible that this fellow, McCorquodale, knew what he was talking
about? Wasn't it men of that stamp who became the tools for corrupt
practices--the boodlers, the heelers who did the actual
ballot-stuffing, the personating at the polls, the bribing? Did
McCorquodale know of what he spoke?

The thought brought with it a sense of disloyalty to his uncle; but the
young man forced himself to face the idea seriously. He was beginning
to realize that there were many things about which he was woefully
ignorant--practical things entirely outside academic curriculums. For
twenty-two years he had eaten his meals regularly and lived a life
uncolored by any event more significant than his recent graduation from
'Varsity with honors. That he had captained the football team to
victory the fall before was nothing extraordinary; many another fellow
with equally broad shoulders and an equally well balanced head upon
them had done the same thing before him. Financial worries had never
intruded upon his good tim