h a sum of money in the envelope which Senator
Blair has just placed on the desk) was put up for the purpose of
stampeding the Assembly for this man who professes to be so honest and
so upright--Senator Danvers!"

Hisses came from all over the room, but Hall was impervious.

"Mr. President: I hereby make my protest against such spectacular
performances by casting my vote, altogether uninfluenced, for the
Honorable Robert Burroughs," he gave a quick glance to the rear of the
room where a new group had just crowded in, "and I defy anyone to detect
'a blush of shame' on my brow."

The speech and the bravado fell flat. The crowd was not with this
bribe-taker. The voting proceeded, and Danvers' name was spoken with
gusto by many who thought, on the next ballot, to return to their
respective candidates.

"Philip Danvers!" yelled Representative O'Dwyer, hardly waiting for his
name as the representatives were called. "Danvers! Danvers! Danvers!" he
repeated, in a frenzy of friendly fervor. Pounding feet and canes
accentuated the Irishman's cry.

"You've given him the deciding vote, O'Dwyer!" shouted the doctor,
forgetting decorum in the delirium of the moment. He had kept close
check on the various candidates while the angry Moore and Burroughs,
purple and speechless, stood aghast, not believing that this flurry
could abolish the results of their expensive campaign.

"Philip Danvers it is!" yelled O'Dwyer, overjoyed, leaping to the top
of his desk and jumping madly. "Danvers forever! Hooray!"

"Danvers! Danvers! Danvers!" The name was taken up as a slogan by the
cheering legislators and citizens--men and women alike. Shouts and
hisses, congratulations and curses, laughter and consternation mingled
over this unexpected denouement of the long-drawn-out contest.

The speaker's gavel came near to breaking, and the desk was cracked
before the tumult could be quieted sufficiently to proceed with the
balloting.

The remaining numbers, almost to a man, voted for Danvers; and when
O'Dwyer moved that the vote be made unanimous, the noise and enthusiasm
which had preceded was as silence to what followed when the motion was
put, seconded and carried, that Philip Danvers of Fort Benton be
declared unanimously elected as the United States senator from Montana
to fill the vacancy for the four years beginning March four, eighteen
hundred and ninety----.

Even Senator Hall joined the majority--for did he not already have his
money