d.

"Yes." In spite of himself, he had given the word an apologetic
inflection.

"Then he has gone already," she said. "I think, if you will telephone a
little later to the State capital, you will find that he is in his room
at the Pelican Hotel."

"By thunder, Victoria!" he ejaculated, "you may be right. It would be
like him."

CHAPTER XXVII

THE ARENA AND THE DUST

Alas! that the great genius who described the battle of Waterloo is not
alive to-day and on this side of the Atlantic, for a subject worthy of
his pen is at hand,--nothing less than that convention of conventions at
which the Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith is one of the candidates.
One of the candidates, indeed! Will it not be known, as long as there are
pensions, and a governor and a state-house and a seal and State
sovereignty and a staff, as the Crewe Convention? How charge after charge
was made during the long, hot day and into the night; how the delegates
were carried out limp and speechless and starved and wet through, and
carried in to vote again,--will all be told in time. But let us begin at
the beginning, which is the day before.

But look! it is afternoon, and the candidates are arriving at the
Pelican. The Honourable Adam B. Hunt is the first, and walks up the hill
from the station escorted by such prominent figures as the Honourables
Brush Bascom and Jacob Botcher, and surrounded by enthusiastic supporters
who wear buttons with the image of their leader--goatee and all--and the
singularly prophetic superscription, 'To the Last Ditch!' Only veterans
and experts like Mr. Bascom and Mr. Botcher can recognize the last ditch
when they see it.

Another stir in the street--occasioned by the appearance of the
Honourable Giles Henderson,--of the blameless life. Utter a syllable
against him if you can! These words should be inscribed on his buttons if
he had any--but he has none. They seem to be, unuttered, on the tongues
of the gentlemen who escort the Honourable Giles, United States Senator
Greene and the Honourable Elisha Jane, who has obtained leave of absence
from his consular post to attend the convention,--and incidentally to
help prepare for it.

But who and what is this? The warlike blast of a siren horn is heard, the
crowd in the lobby rushes to the doors, people up-stairs fly to the
windows, and the Honourable Adam B. Hunt leans out and nearly falls out,
but is rescued by Division Superintendent Manning of the Northeaster