othing to disturb this belief; but neither had the
editor manifested that meek submission for which the reporter had been
prepared. The editor's Gargantuan girth trembled again. The spectacle he
presented as he shook thus with inexplicable mirth was so funny that
Harwood grinned; whereupon Pettit rubbed one of his great hands across
his three-days' growth of beard, evoking a harsh rasping sound in which
he seemed to find relief and satisfaction.

"You don't know Mort? Well, he's all right; he will he mighty nice to
you. Mort's one of the best fellows on earth; you won't find anybody out
here in Fraser County to say anything against Mort Bassett. No, sir; by
God!"

Again the ponderous frame shook; again the mysterious look came into the
man's curious small eyes, and Harwood witnessed another seismic
disturbance in the bulk before him; then the Honorable Isaac Pettit grew
serious.

"You want some facts for a starter. Well, I guess a few facts don't hurt
in this business, providin' you don't push in too many of 'em."

He pondered for a moment, then went on, as though summarizing from a
biography:--

"Only child of the late Jeremiah Bassett, founder of Bassett's Bank. Old
Jerry was pure boiler plate; he could squeeze ten per cent interest out
of a frozen parsnip. He and Blackford Singleton sort o' divided things
up in this section. Jerry Bassett corralled the coin; Blackford rolled
up a couple of hundred thousand and capped it with a United States
senatorship. Mort's not forty yet; married only child of Blackford F.
Singleton--Jerry made the match, I guess; it was the only way he could
get Blackford's money. Mort prepared for college, but didn't go. Took
his degree in law at Columbia, but never practiced. Always interested in
politics; been in the state senate twelve years; two children, boy and
girl. I guess Mort Bassett can do most anything he wants to--you can't
tell where he'll land."

"But the next steps are obvious," suggested Harwood, encouragingly--"the
governorship, the United States Senate--ever onward and upward."

"Well, yes; but you never know anything from _him_. _We_ don't know, and
you might think we'd understand him pretty well up here. He declined to
go to Congress from this district--could have had it without turning a
hand; but he put in his man and stayed in the state senate. I reckon he
cuts some ice there, but he's mighty quiet. Bassett doesn't beat the
tom-tom to call attention to himself. I