. His stock took a
new jump, and sentiment in his favour continued to grow at a rate that
made him exult and that filled the enemy with concern.

This inquietude penetrated the side office of the Tippecanoe House and
sorely troubled the heart of Blind Charlie Peck. So, early one
afternoon, he appeared in the office of the editor of the _Express_.
His reception was rather more pleasant than on the occasion of his
first visit, now over a month before; for, although Katherine had
repeated her warning, Bruce had given it little credit. He did not
have much confidence in her woman's judgment. Besides, he was
reassured by the fact that Blind Charlie had, in every apparent
particular, adhered to his bargain to keep hands off.

"Just wait a second," Bruce said to his caller; and turning back to
his desk he hastily scribbled a headline over an item about a case of
fever down in River Court. This he sent down to the composing-room,
and swung around to the old politician. "Well, now, what's up?"

"I just dropped around," said Blind Charlie, with his good-natured
smile, "to congratulate you on the campaign you're making. You're
certainly putting up a fine article of fight!"

"It does look as if we had a pretty fair chance of winning," returned
Bruce, confidently.

"Great! Great!" said Blind Charlie heartily. "I certainly made no
mistake when I picked you out as the one man that could win for us."

"Thanks. I've done my best. And I'm going to keep it up."

"That's right. I told you I looked on it as my last campaign. I'm
pretty old, and my heart's not worth a darn. When I go, whether it's
up or down, I'll travel a lot easier for having first soaked Blake
good and proper."

Bruce did not answer. He expected Blind Charlie to leave; in fact, he
wanted him to go, for it lacked but a quarter of an hour of press
time. But instead of departing, Blind Charlie settled back in his
chair, crossed his legs and leisurely began to cut off a comfortable
mouthful from his plug of tobacco.

"Yes, sir, it's a great fight," he continued. "It doesn't seem that it
could be improved on. But a little idea has come to me that may
possibly help. It may not be any good at all, but I thought it
wouldn't do any harm to drop in and suggest it to you."

"I'll be glad to hear it," returned Bruce. "But couldn't we talk it
over, say in half an hour? It's close to press time, and I've got some
proofs to look through--in fact the proof of an article on th