icially.

"It is eating its dinner now," he said. "It said: 'Landlord, I want a
table alone. I do not wish to be disturbed.' And just think, Harley,
this is Colorado! Landlord, otherwise Bill Jeffreys, was so taken aback
that he said, 'All right.' But the Honorable Herbert Henry Heathcote is
being watched. There are three cowboys, at this very moment, peeping in
at his window."

There was a dead silence for at least a minute, broken at last by
Barton.

"Gentlemen," he said, "you do not yet know the full, the awful truth; I
accidentally heard Heathcote telling Jeffreys about it."

"Why, what can be worse?" asked Harley, and he was in earnest.

"Mr. Heathcote's man--his valet, do you understand--arrives to-night. He
is to have a place in the car, and to travel with us, in order that he
may wait on his master."

"King" Plummer uttered an oath.

"The West can stand a good many things, but it won't stand that," he
exclaimed. "A national committeeman of our party travelling with his
valet on the train with Jimmy Grayson! It'll cost us at least six
states. We ain't women!"

There succeeded a gloomy silence that lasted until Heathcote himself
appeared upon the porch, fresh, dapper, and patronizing.

"I hope you enjoyed your dinner, Mr. Heathcote," said Harley, ever ready
to be a peacemaker.

"Thank you, Mr. Hardy--ah, Harley; it did very well for the
frontier--one does not expect much here, you know."

Harley glanced uneasily at the men in the chairs, but Mr. Heathcote went
on, condescendingly:

"I am now going for an interview with Mr. Grayson in his room. We shall
be there at least an hour, and we wish to be quite alone, as I have many
things of importance to say."

No one spoke, but twenty pairs of eyes followed the committeeman as he
disappeared in the hotel on his way to Jimmy Grayson's room. Then
Alvord, the town judge, a man of gigantic stature, rose to his feet and
said, in a mimicking, feminine voice:

"Gentlemen, I am going to the bar, and I shall be there at least an
hour; I wish to be quite alone, as I shall have many important things to
drink."

There was a burst of laughter that relieved the constraint somewhat, and
then, obedient to an invitation from the judge, they filed solemnly in
to the bar.

The candidate was to speak in the afternoon, and as he would raise some
new issues, sure to be of interest to the whole country, Harley,
following his familiar custom, went in search of Mr. Grayson