apter.

ELEVEN. The Candidacy of Mr. Smith

"Boys," said Mr. Smith to the two hostlers, stepping out on to the
sidewalk in front of the hotel,--"hoist that there British Jack over the
place and hoist her up good."

Then he stood and watched the flag fluttering in the wind.

"Billy," he said to the desk clerk, "get a couple more and put them up
on the roof of the caff behind the hotel. Wire down to the city and get
a quotation on a hundred of them. Take them signs 'American Drinks' out
of the bar. Put up noo ones with 'British Beer at all Hours'; clear out
the rye whiskey and order in Scotch and Irish, and then go up to the
printing office and get me them placards."

Then another thought struck Mr. Smith.

"Say, Billy," he said, "wire to the city for fifty pictures of King
George. Get 'em good, and get 'em coloured. It don't matter what they
cost."

"All right, sir," said Billy.

"And Billy," called Mr. Smith, as still another thought struck him
(indeed, the moment Mr. Smith went into politics you could see these
thoughts strike him like waves), "get fifty pictures of his father, old
King Albert."

"All right, sir."

"And say, I tell you, while you're at it, get some of the old queen,
Victorina, if you can. Get 'em in mourning, with a harp and one of them
lions and a three-pointed prong."

It was on the morning after the Conservative Convention. Josh Smith had
been chosen the candidate. And now the whole town was covered with flags
and placards and there were bands in the streets every evening, and
noise and music and excitement that went on from morning till night.

Election times are exciting enough even in the city. But there the
excitement dies down in business hours. In Mariposa there aren't any
business hours and the excitement goes on _all_ the time.

Mr. Smith had carried the Convention before him. There had been a feeble
attempt to put up Nivens. But everybody knew that he was a lawyer and a
college man and wouldn't have a chance by a man with a broader outlook
like Josh Smith.

So the result was that Smith was the candidate and there were placards
out all over the town with SMITH AND BRITISH ALLEGIANCE in big letters,
and people were wearing badges with Mr. Smith's face on one side and
King George's on the other, and the fruit store next to the hotel had
been cleaned out and turned into committee rooms with a gang of workers
smoking cigars in it all day and half the night.

There were