d not alter the fact that
he had a strong hand.

Harley at first heard the mutterings of the thunder only from afar; it
was being debated in the East among the great manufacturing cities, but
as yet the West was untouched by the storm. Mr. Heathcote, the Eastern
committeeman, called his attention to it after they had passed the
mountain-range that divides western Washington from eastern Washington.

Harley was looking out of the window at the rippling brown plain, which
he was told was one of the best wheat countries in the world. "At
first," said his informant, a pioneer, "we thought it was a desert, and
we thought so, too, for a long time afterwards; it looked like loose
sand, and the wind actually blew the soil about as if it were dust. Now,
and without irrigation, it produces its thirty bushels of wheat per acre
season after season."

Harley was thinking of this brilliant transformation, when the
committeeman, who was sitting just behind him, suddenly changed the
channel of his thoughts.

"I have here a Walla Walla paper that will interest you, Mr. Harley," he
said. "In fact, it is likely to interest us all. The despatch is
somewhat meagre, but it will suffice."

He put his finger on the top head-line of the first page, and Harley
read: "The Tariff an Issue." He took the paper and read the article
carefully. The debate had occurred before an immense audience in Madison
Square Garden, in New York City, and according to the despatch it had
excited the greatest interest, a statement that Harley could easily
believe.

"I was hoping that we would be spared this," he said, as he laid the
paper down and his face became grave. "Why do they bring it up? It's not
in the platform and it should not be made an issue, at least not now."

"But it is an issue, after all," replied Mr. Heathcote, "and I am
surprised that the enemy did not raise the question sooner. They must
have had some very bad management. They are united on this question, and
we are not. If we are forced to come into line of battle on it, then we
are divided and they are not; don't you see their advantage?"

"Yes, it is manifest," replied Harley, gloomily. Then, after a little
thought, he began to brighten.

"It is not necessary for Jimmy Grayson to declare himself."

"He will, if he is asked to do so."

"But we are away out here in the Western mountains, out of immediate
touch with the great centres of population. These thinly settled states
are do