ix councilmen, an' I'll graft 'em
one at a time, an' THEN where 'll your boss grafter be? You can't help
yourself."

"Say!" he exclaimed, "ain't I a boss grafter? Apples, potatoes, celery,
peas, and chickens! Five grafts for one ordinance! I do it!"

"An' don't you say nothing about it," warned the Colonel.

The Colonel thought there would be no harm in making a little commission
for himself on the deal. It was not as if he had done nothing to earn
it. He would have to furnish the produce for the mayor's "graft," and
he had secured the services of Toole free of fees, and he was doing Miss
Sally a good turn into the bargain. If Skinner was compelled to buy the
four fire-extinguishers at twenty-five dollars each Miss Sally could
afford a commission of ten dollars each, and forty dollars were always
forty dollars to the Colonel.

The mayor kept his promise. At the next meeting of the council the
ordinance was proposed, and hurried to a third reading by suspension of
the by-laws, and the next day Stitz signed it. There was some opposition
at the council meeting, for Skinner was present, and wanted to talk,
but the marshal was present, too, and at a word from Stitz, he helped
Skinner down the stairs, but gently, as a marshal owing a considerable
butcher's bill should.

CHAPTER XI. The False Gods of Doc Weaver

When Eliph' Hewlitt reached the hotel after his unfortunate visit of
courtship, he stood a minute irresolute, and then the sign of the KILO
TIMES, across the street, caught his eye. Here was a power he must not
neglect; the power of the press. He knew well enough that the next issue
of the KILO TIMES would chronicle his arrival in town; something
like "E. Hewlitt is registered at the Kilo Hotel," or "E. Hewlitt,
representing a New York publishing house, is sojourning in our midst,"
but he felt that his heart interest in Kilo demanded something more than
this. He was willing to have all the friends he could muster for the
fight he would have to make for Miss Sally's affection, and he knew that
the press was powerful in creating first impressions. He crossed the
street and climbed the stair to the office of the KILO TIMES.

Every Thursday, except once a year, when Thomas Jefferson Jones went to
the State Fair at Des Moines, the KILO TIMES appeared, printed on an old
Washington hand-power press in the TIMES office four small pages, backed
by four other pages that came already printed from a Chicago supply
ho