istocrat. You keep still about it, but be sure and come to the
convention at the court house next Saturday at two o'clock."

"Oh, I'll do that; so long."

* * * * *

Colonel Chenault, with about twenty of his friends, all of whom were
good judges of horses, whiskey and tobacco, and who could tell a pair of
deuces from a full hand, came rather late to the convention, not having
the least intimation of opposition.

They were surprised to find the court room filled with farmers and men
of the hills, from the eastern side of the county. This gathering the
Colonel appropriated as evidence of his popularity and as a spontaneous
endorsement for his renomination. Obsessed with this thought, he
strutted up the aisle like a pouter pigeon.

The temporary chairman of the meeting, Chesley Chilton, who expected to
be nominated for sheriff the following year, and who saw that a surprise
was about to be sprung on the Colonel, called Caleb to one side and
asked the cause of the gathering.

"Oh, you stand by us and we'll help you out next year. I know what you
want. Chenault is a dead one and don't know it. We are after his scalp.
Here he comes with his collection of fossils; time's up; call the
convention to order."

Caleb moved that the temporary be made the permanent chairman; this was
done without opposition. Then a secretary and three tellers were
chosen--all friends of Caleb's. One of Colonel Chenault's friends
complained that all this was a waste of time, as the Colonel had no
opposition.

Then the chairman called for nominations and Colonel Chenault was
pompously nominated by Colonel Shackelford, who closed his remarks by
moving that nominations close and the Colonel be unanimously declared
the nominee.

At this suggestion there was a stentorian clamour of noes. In the midst
of the uproar Webster James, a candidate for county attorney, who had
the promise of Caleb's support and an understanding with him, rose and
was recognized by the chairman.

"Mr. Chairman: I have always felt that office should come unsought;
should seek the man. I know not how many appreciate the special fitness
of the young man whose name I am about to present to the democracy of
this county, suggesting his nomination from this the Seventy-second
Legislative District. I know he will be surprised when he hears his
name, but this great gathering is in his honor and he must regard the
call as one to duty and service,