you?"

"At least, you could decline to do anything definite in this Texas
matter."

"Why should a man ever do anything _in_definite, Jim Polk?" asked
Calhoun, bending on him his frosty eyes.

"But you may set a fire going which you can not stop. The people may get
out of hand _before the convention!_"

"Why should they not? They have interests as well as we. Do they not
elect us to subserve those interests?"

"I yield to no man in my disinterested desire for the welfare of the
American people," began Polk pompously, throwing back the hair from his
forehead.

"Of course not," said Calhoun grimly. "My own idea is that it is well to
give the people what is already theirs. They feel that Texas belongs to
them."

"True," said the Tennesseean, hesitating; "a good strong blast about our
martial spirit and the men of the Revolution--that is always good before
an election or a convention. Very true. But now in my own case--"

"Your own case is not under discussion, Jim. It is the case of the
United States! I hold a brief for them, not for you or any other man!"

"How do you stand in case war should be declared against Mexico?" asked
Mr. Polk. "That ought to be a popular measure. The Texans have captured
the popular imagination. The Alamo rankles in our nation's memory. What
would you say to a stiff demand there, with a strong show of military
force behind it?"

"I should say nothing as to a strong _showing_ in any case. I should
only say that if war came legitimately--not otherwise--I should back it
with all my might. I feel the same in regard to war with England."

"With England? What chance would we have with so powerful a nation as
that?"

"There is a God of Battles," said John Calhoun.

The chin of James K. Polk of Tennessee sank down into his stock. His
staring eyes went half shut. He was studying something in his own mind.
At last he spoke, tentatively, as was always his way until he got the
drift of things.

"Well, now, perhaps in the case of England that is good politics," he
began. "It is very possible that the people hate England as much as they
do Mexico. Do you not think so?"

"I think they fear her more."

"But I was only thinking of the popular imagination!"

[Illustration: "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!" exclaimed Polk. Page 203]

"You are always thinking of the popular imagination, Jim. You have
been thinking of that for some time in Tennessee. All that outcry about
the whole of Oregon is ill