d, speaking
to Jethro and ignoring the railroad president, "and I heard somebody
whisperin' my name. Sound came out of that little shampoo closet; went in
there and found Bije. 'Peleg,' says he, right into my ear, 'tell Jethro
it's all right--you understand. We want Heth to go back--break his heart
if he didn't--you understand. If I'd knowed last winter Jethro meant
business, I wouldn't hev' helped Gus Flint out. Tell Jethro he can have
'em--you know what I mean.' Bije waited a little mite too long," said the
senator, who had given a very fair imitation of Mr. Bixby's nasal voice
and manner.

"Well, I'm d--d!" ejaculated Mr. Balch, staring at Jethro. "How did you
work it?"

"Sent Chauncey through the deestrict," said Mr. Hartington.

Mr. Chauncey Weed had, in truth, gone through a part of the congressional
district of the Honorable Heth Sutton with a little leather bag. Mr. Weed
had been able to do some of his work (with the little leather bag) in the
capital itself. In this way Mr. Bixby's regiment, Sutton was the honorary
colonel, had been attacked in the rear and routed. Here was to be a
congressional convention that autumn, and a large part of Mr. Sutton's
district lay in the North Country, which, as we have seen, was loyal to
Jethro to the back bone. The district, too, was largely rural, and
therefore anti-consolidation, and the inability of the Worthington forces
to get their bill through had made it apparent that Jethro Bass was as
powerful as ever. Under these circumstances it had not been very
difficult for a gentleman of Mr. Chauncey Weed's powers of persuasion to
induce various lieutenants in the district to agree to send delegates to
the coming convention who would be conscientiously opposed to Mr.
Sutton's renomination: hence the departure from the capital of Mr.
Sutton; hence the generous offer of Mr. Bixby to put his regiment at the
disposal of Mr. Bass--free of charge.

The second factor on which victory hung (we can use the past tense now)
was none other than his Excellency Alva Hopkins, governor of the state.
The bill would never get to his Excellency now--so people said; would
never get beyond that committee who had listened so patiently to the
twelve weeks of argument. These were only rumors, after all, for the
rotunda never knows positively what goes on in high circles; but the
rotunda does figuring, too, when at length the problem is reduced to a
simple equation, with Bijah Bixby as x. If it we