beyond doubt these lines were the residuum of
Bassett's long interview with Atwill. And its aim was unmistakable: Mr.
Bassett was thus paying his compliments to Mr. Thatcher. The encounter
at the Country Club might have precipitated the crisis, but, knowing
Bassett, Dan did not believe that the "Courier's" batteries would have
been fired on so little provocation. Bassett was not a man to shoot
wildly in the dark, nor was he likely to fire at all without being sure
of the state of his ammunition chests. So, at least, Harwood reasoned to
himself. Several of his fellow passengers in the smoking-car were
passing the "Courier" about and pointing to the editorial. All over
Indiana it would be the subject of discussion for a long time to come;
and Dan's journalistic sense told him that in the surrounding capitals
it would not be ignored.

"If Thatcher and Bassett get to fighting, the people may find a chance
to sneak in and get something," a man behind Dan was saying.

"Nope," said another voice; "there won't be 'no core' when those fellows
get through with the apple."

"I can hear the cheering in the Republican camp this morning," remarked
another voice gleefully.

"Oh, pshaw!" said still another speaker; "Bassett will simply grind
Thatcher to powder. Thatcher hasn't any business in politics anyhow and
doesn't know the game. By George, Bassett does! And this is the first
time he's struck a full blow since he got behind the 'Courier.'
Something must have made him pretty hot, though, to have let off a
scream like that."

Harwood was interested in these remarks because they indicated a
prevalent impression that Bassett dominated the "Courier," in spite of
the mystery with which the ownership of the paper was enveloped. The
only doubt in Harwood's own mind had been left there by Bassett himself.
He recalled now Bassett's remark on the day he had taken him into his
confidence in the Ranger County affair. "I might have some trouble in
proving it myself," Bassett had said. Harwood thought it strange that
after that first deliberate confidence and his introduction to Atwill,
Bassett had, in this important move, ignored him. It was possible that
his relations with Allen Thatcher, which Bassett knew to be intimate,
accounted for the change; or it might be due to a lessening warmth in
Bassett's feeling toward him. He recalled now that Bassett had lately
seemed moody,--a new development in the man from Fraser,--and that he
had sev