of them were opposed to revision, and they were usually signed by men of
wealth and power, those who furnished the sinews of war, as necessary in
a political campaign--and entirely within the confines of honesty,
too--as the cannon and the rifles are on the field of battle. Others
took another view, and it was apparent to everybody that great trouble
in the party was at hand.

Gloom settled over the train. They were ready at all times to fight the
enemy, but how to handle defection among their own men was a puzzling
thing, and there was cause for despair. Sylvia, however, was glad that
Mr. Grayson knew. She said that he would do right, whatever it might be.

"I've been in to see Mr. Grayson," said Mr. Heathcote to Harley, "and I
suggested that he might continue his silence on the great question. You
see, he is not bound to speak. If he doesn't want to, nobody can make
him."

"No, nobody can make him speak, nor can anybody keep him from it if he
wishes to do so."

While they talked the train was slowing down for a stop at a tiny
village of a dozen houses, and when there a long telegram was brought to
Mr. Heathcote. He read it with absorbed attention, and when he looked up
at Harley his face showed relief.

"This is good! This is good!" he said. "The telegram is dated Chicago,
and it tells me that a big committee of New York, Philadelphia, and
Boston men is coming on to see Mr. Grayson. They are good members of our
own party, all in favor of letting the tariff alone, and I think they
can bring such pressure to bear that they will save us."

Harley himself felt relief. The committee might achieve something, and,
at any rate, the responsibility would rest upon more heads.

"When can we expect these men?" he asked.

"In two days; they are already well on their way."

"Being an Eastern man yourself, it will fall to your lot to be the
intermediary."

"I suppose so," said Mr. Heathcote, and he sighed a little.

True to Mr. Heathcote's prediction, the committee overtook them two days
later at a way-station, and Harley saw at once that strenuous days were
ahead, because the committee had a full sense of its own largeness and
importance, a fact evident even to those less acute than Harley; and it
was led by Mr. Goodnight and Mr. Crayon themselves. It was composed of
eight men, all middle-aged or more, and every one was set in a way of
thinking peculiar to the business in which he had spent many years and
in which he