The Ramrodders Part 31

The men with Spinney promptly counselled him to remain where he was, but the candidate was impressed by the young man's determined appearance.

Harlan strode to him, and took him by the arm. He had been used to the command of men since boyhood. "I have some very positive instructions.

It will be a serious matter for you, Mr. Spinney, if you don't come--and you can't afford to take the advice of these men here."

He propelled his man toward the door, and Mr. Spinney went. It is likely that he concluded that no very serious damage could come to him in the presence of Thelismer Thornton's grandson. But when they arrived near the door of General Waymouth's parlor, Spinney recognized what it meant and resisted.

"It's a trap!" he gasped. "I thought your grandfather--"

The State Committeemen were following along the corridor, growling threats. Now they understood that this was practically an abduction.

They hastened up to the scene of the struggle. But the young man was not deterred. He was obeying orders without question. With him it was not a matter of politics; he did not pause to wonder how the affair would be looked upon. The man to whom all his loyalty had gone out had commanded; he was obeying. But the others were resolute too. They were about to interfere. At that moment Thelismer Thornton appeared in the corridor.

"Let the boy alone," he commanded, thrusting himself among them.

The diversion gave Harlan his opportunity. Clutching Spinney with one hand, he threw open the door and pushed him in, followed him, and closed the door. He locked it, and stood with his back against it.

In that moment he did not reflect that in obeying General Waymouth so implicitly he might be playing traitor to his own flesh and blood. But the Duke, in his cynicism, had never attracted his grandson's political loyalty. That had seemed a matter apart from the family ties between them. His grandfather had set him on the trail of decency in politics, and had given him a leader to follow.

The frankness with which his grandfather had exposed the code by which he and his ilk operated in politics, making tricks, subterfuge, and downright dishonesty an integral part of the game and ent.i.tled to absolution, had divorced Harlan's straightforward sympathies when the question came to issue between his own relative, complacently unscrupulous, and General Waymouth, heroically casting off bonds of friendship and political affiliations, and standing for what was obviously the right. It was chivalrous. It appealed to the youth in Harlan. His manhandling of the amazed Spinney was an unheard-of event among gentlemen at a political convention, but there was more than impulse behind it. Harlan Thornton was a woodsman. Social conventions make the muscles subservient, but in the more primitive conditions the muscles leap ahead of the mind.

Therefore, he came with Mr. Spinney and tossed him into the presence of the chief, who had sent for him.

Then he set his broad shoulders against the door, for fists had begun to hammer at it.

It was evident at once that Spinney recognized the nature of the conference that had a.s.sembled in General Waymouth's room, and knew what the personnel of the group signified.

He looked around him and started toward the door.

"I've got witnesses to that a.s.sault, and you're going to suffer for it,"

he bl.u.s.tered. Harlan did not give way.

"You can't leave here yet, Mr. Spinney--not until General Waymouth finishes his business with you."

The General had viewed Mr. Spinney's headlong arrival with astonishment.

He stepped forward to the centre of the room. There was a note in his voice that quelled the man as much as had Harlan's resolute demeanor at the door.

"Spinney, it will be better for you if you listen."

The candidate turned to face him, apprehensive and defiant at the same time. The panels of the door against which Harlan leaned were jarred by beating fists. Harlan heard the voice of his grandfather outside, calling to him impatiently. A moment more, and Chairman Presson added a more wrathful admonition to open.

"Mr. Thornton, will you kindly inform those people at the door that this is my room, and that I command them to withdraw?" directed General Waymouth.

Harlan flung the door open and filled the s.p.a.ce with the bulk of his body. Both parties stood revealed to each other, the young man dividing them, and disdaining intrenchments.

"What kind of a crazy-headed, lumber-jack performance are you perpetrating here?" demanded the elder Thornton. "You're not handling Canucks to-day, you young hyena!"

"This is a scandal--a disgrace to this convention!" thundered Presson.

He started to come in, but Harlan barred the doorway with body and arms.

"Do you want any of these gentlemen inside, General?" he asked.

"Neither Mr. Presson, nor Mr. Thornton, nor any of the rest," declared Waymouth. "And I want that disturbance at my door stopped."

"You hear that!" cried the defender of the pa.s.s. "Now, Mr. Presson, if you intend to disgrace this convention by a riot, it's up to you to start it." And then the choler and the hot blood of his youth spoke. He did not pick his words. His opinion of them was seething within him. He talked as he would talk to a lumber-crew. "I'm keeping this door, and I'm man enough for all the pot-bellied politicians you can crowd into this corridor. And if there's any more hammering here, I'll step out and show you."

He slammed the door, locked it, and set his shoulders against the panels.

"Luke, keep away," counselled Thelismer. "The boy is just plain lumber-jack at the present moment, and he's a hard man in a sc.r.a.p. We can't afford to have a scene."

"They're going to turn wrongside-out that wad of cotton batting with two ounces of brains wrapped in it!" raved the State chairman. But the Duke pulled the politician away, whispering in his ear.

Spinney faced the General, blinking, doubtful, sullen.

The old soldier knew how to attack. He flung his accusation with fierce directness. "Spinney, you have sold out. You're a traitor. And you're a thief as well, for you've sold what didn't belong to you. You solicited honest men, in the name of reform, to put their cause into your hands.

It was a trust. You've sold it."

"I'll prosecute you for slander!" roared the candidate. He hoped his defiance would be heard by those outside.

"You may do so, but I'll give you here and now the facts that you'll go up against. That's how sure I am of my ground!"

He shook papers at the man.

"Last night, or rather this morning at one o'clock, to be exact, you met Luke Presson and members of the State Committee, and for two thousand dollars, paid to you in one-hundred-dollar bills, you agreed to pull out. The secret was to be kept until it should be time for the nominating speeches to be made on the floor of the convention to-day. I have here affidavits signed by responsible parties who heard the entire transaction." It was accusation formal, couched in cold phrases, without pa.s.sion.

Spinney started. The perspiration began to stream down his face. But in spite of the staggering blow the fight was not out of him. He thought quickly, rea.s.suring himself by the recollection that his bedroom door had been locked, and men were on guard in his parlor. There could have been no eavesdroppers. This must be a bluff.

"That's a d.a.m.nation lie!" he shouted.

"Don't you bellow at me, sir! I'm not trying to extort any confession.

But you're wasting time, denying. I'm sure of my ground, I repeat.

That's why I'm talking now. I'm an old man, and I was in politics in this State before you were born. And there were tricks and tricksters in the old days. And I knew them. I played one of those tricks on you, sir, last night. It's the last one I hope I shall ever play, for tricks are to be taken out of the politics of this State. The G.o.d of good chance lodged you in 'Traitor's Room,' last night, Mr. Spinney."

The man stared at him, frightened, not understanding.

"There's a false door and a slide in the wall of that bedroom, Spinney, and the old politician who put it there years ago pa.s.sed the knowledge on to me. I'm willing every one should know it now. When you go back I will have it shown to you. It will convince you that these affidavits I hold in my hand are not guess-work. These men in this room now--for your own men brought me word that you were hiding from them--made those affidavits. Look at them, and deny--deny once more, Spinney!"

But the candidate had no voice now. He glanced furtively from face to face.

"Spinney," one declared, bitterly, "we've got you dead to rights. There ain't any use in squirming. We suspected you when you hid away from us, and General Waymouth put us in the way of finding out just who was with you. You might as well give in."

The General did not wait for Spinney to speak. He was in no mood then for listening. He was in command. He was issuing orders. The battle was on, and he was in the saddle.

"I propose to have your name go before the convention, Spinney. You must walk out of this room and deny the rumors that are afloat. I propose to have two of these men go with you and stay with you. And if you deny half-heartedly, or if you attempt any more sneak tricks, or if your name is not put into nomination to-day, I'll stand out and declare what is in these affidavits. If you want to save yourself and the men who bribed you, obey my orders."

"I don't understand why you want me to go ahead now," Spinney ventured to protest.

"And I don't propose to take you into my confidence enough, sir, to inform you. I simply instruct you to do as I say, and if you obey, I and these men here will do all we can to cover up this nasty mess in our party. It's in your hands whether you go to jail or not."

The General signalled to Harlan, and the young man opened the door.

Spinney went out with his watchful guardians.