y on which the supremacy of my
party depends. You will have to go. Come back some other time." And he
did.

In the Senate there was a hitch. When the vote was taken on the expulsion
of Stockton, to the amazement of the leader it was a tie.

He hobbled into the Senate Chamber, with the steel point of his cane
ringing on the marble flags as though he were thrusting it through the
vitals of the weakling who had sneaked and hedged and trimmed at the
crucial moment.

He met Howle at the door.

"What's the matter in there?" he asked.

"They're trying to compromise."

"Compromise--the Devil of American politics," he muttered. "But how did
the vote fail--it was all fixed before the roll-call?"

"Roman, of Maine, has trouble with his conscience! He is paired not to
vote on this question with Stockton's colleague, who is sick in Trenton.
His 'honour' is involved, and he refuses to break his word."

"I see," said Stoneman, pulling his bristling brows down until his eyes
were two beads of white gleaming through them. "Tell Wade to summon every
member of the party in his room immediately and hold the Senate in
session."

When the group of Senators crowded into the Vice-president's room the old
man faced them leaning on his cane and delivered an address of five
minutes they never forgot.

His speech had a nameless fascination. The man himself with his elemental
passions was a wonder. He left on public record no speech worth reading,
and yet these powerful men shrank under his glance. As the nostrils of his
big three-angled nose dilated, the scream of an eagle rang in his voice,
his huge ugly hand held the crook of his cane with the clutch of a tiger,
his tongue flew with the hiss of an adder, and his big deformed foot
seemed to grip the floor as the claw of a beast.

"The life of a political party, gentlemen," he growled in conclusion, "is
maintained by a scheme of subterfuges in which the moral law cuts no
figure. As your leader, I know but one law--success. The world is full of
fools who must have toys with which to play. A belief in politics is the
favourite delusion of shallow American minds. But you and I have no
delusions. Your life depends on this vote. If any man thinks the
abstraction called 'honour' is involved, let him choose between his honour
and his life! I call no names. This issue must be settled now before the
Senate adjourns. There can be no to-morrow. It is life or death. Let the
roll be called again