The ten gentlemen who had copies of the Bassett programme in their
pockets were not surprised by the decision. Thatcher stood at a side
door and two of his men were pushing their way through the aisles to
reach Pettit; for the Honorable Isaac Pettit was on his feet demanding
recognition while Thatcher's delegates shouted to him to sit down;
humiliation must go no farther, and if the Fraser County editor did not
realize that his new chief was the victim of a vile trick, the gentleman
from Fraser must be throttled, if necessary, to prevent a further
affront to Thatcher's dignity. Thatcher was purple with rage; it was
enough to have been made the plaything of an unscrupulous enemy once,
without having one's ambitions repeatedly kicked up and down a
convention hall.

The chairman, fully rehearsed in his part, showed a malevolent
disposition to continue toward the friends of Thatcher an attitude at
once benevolent and just. So many were demanding recognition amid
cat-calling and whistling that the fairest and least partial of
presiding officers might well have hesitated before singling out one
gentleman when so many were eagerly, even furiously, desirous of
enlightening the convention. But the presiding officer was obeying the
orders communicated to him by a gentleman who was even at this moment
skimming across the cool waters of Lake Waupegan. It would more fully
have satisfied the chairman's sense of humor to have recognized the
Honorable Isaac Pettit and have suffered an appeal from the ruling of
the chair, which presumably the editor wished to demand. By this means
the weakness of Thatcher might have expressed itself in figures that
would have deepened Thatcher's abasement in the eyes of his fellow
partisans; but this idea had been discussed with Bassett, who had
sharply vetoed it, and the chairman was not a man lightly to disobey
orders even to make a Hoosier holiday. He failed to see the editor of
the "Fraser County Democrat" and peremptorily closed the incident. There
was no mistaking his temper as he announced:--

"The chair announces that the next business in order is the call of the
roll of counties for nominations for the office of secretary of state.
What is the pleasure of the convention?"

Colonel Ramsay had repaired to the gallery to enjoy the proceedings with
Mrs. Bassett's party. In spite of his support of the Palmer and Buckner
ticket (how long ago that seems!), the Colonel had never lost touch with
the