luxurious rest of the group was continued for
twenty-four hours for all--save Hobart.

Harley had never before seen the "mystery" man so eager and so full of
suppressed excitement. He frequently passed his comrades, but he rarely
spoke to them, or even noticed them; his mind was concentrated now upon
a great affair in which they would be of no avail. Harley learned,
however, that he was still much in the company of the three witnesses,
although he asked him no questions. Late in the afternoon he saw him
alone and walking rapidly towards the hotel. It seemed to Harley that
Hobart's head was borne somewhat high and in a manner exultantly, as if
he were overcoming obstacles, and he was about to ask him again in
regard to his progress, but Hobart once more sped by without a word and
went into the hotel. Harley learned later that he held a secret
conference with Jimmy Grayson.

In the evening everybody went to the opera-house to hear the candidate,
but on the way Hobart said, casually, to Harley: "Old man, I don't think
I'll sit in front to-night. I wish you would let me have your notes
afterwards." "Of course," replied Harley, as he passed down the aisle
and found his chair at the correspondents' table on the stage.

There Harley watched the fine Western audience come into the theatre and
find seats, with some noise but no disorder, a noise merely of men
calling each other by name, and commenting in advance on what Jimmy
Grayson would say. The other correspondents entered one by one--all
except Hobart, and took their seats on the stage. Sylvia and Mrs.
Grayson were with some ladies in a box. Harley looked for Hobart, and
two or three times he saw him near the main entrance of the building.
Once he was talking with a brown and longish-haired youth, and Harley,
by casual inquiry, learned that it was Metzger, the cowboy. A man not
greatly different in appearance, to whom Hobart spoke occasionally, was
Thorpe, the tramp miner, and yet another, a tall fellow with a bulging
underlip, Harley learned, was Williams, the third witness.

Evidently the witnesses would attend Jimmy Grayson's meeting, which was
natural, however, as every body in Grayville was sure to come, and
Harley also surmised that Hobart had taken upon himself the task of
instructing them as to the methods, the manner, and the greatness of the
candidate. He had done such a thing himself, upon occasion, the Western
interest in Jimmy Grayson being so great that oft