“But, unfortunately, Congress also has something to say about choosing it,” spoke Haines.

“To be shuah they do,” said Gulf City’s Mayor, “but—­”

“And there was a man here from Altacoola yesterday,” again interrupted the secretary, “who said that Gulf City was fit only to be the State refuge for aged and indigent frogs.”

“Say, they ain’t a man in Altacoola wot can speak th’ truth,” indignantly shrieked the old Colonel, almost losing control of himself; “because their heads is always a-buzzin’ and a-hummin’ from th’ quinine they have to take to keep th’ fever away, sah!”

The Mayor sat directly in front of Haines, at the opposite side of his desk.  Regaining his composure, he suddenly leaned forward and half whispered to the secretary: 

“Mah young friend, don’t let Senator Langdon get switched away from Gulf City by them cheap skates from Altacoola.  Now, if you’ll get th’ Senator to vote fo’ Gulf City we’ll see—­I’ll see, sah, as an officer of th’ Gulf City Lan’ Company—­that you get taken ca-ah of.”

Haines’ eyes opened wide.

“Go on, Colonel; go on with your offer,” he said.

“Well, I’ll see that a block of stock, sah—­a big block—­is set aside fo’ Senator Langdon an’ another fo’ you, too.  We’ve made this ah-rangomont else-wheah.  We’ll outbid Altacoola overall time.  They’re po’ sports an’ hate to give up.”

“So Altacoola is bidding, too?” excitedly asked Haines.

“Why, of co’se it is.  Ah yo’ as blind as that o’ ah yo’ foolin’ with me?” questioned Telfer, suspiciously.  “Seems to me yo’ ought to know more about that end of it than a fellah clear from th’ gulf.”

“Certainly, certainly,” mumbled Haines, impatiently, as he endeavored to associate coherently, intelligently, in his mind those startling new revelations of Telfer with certain incidents he had previously noted in the operations of the committee on naval affairs.

Then he looked across at the Mayor and smiled.  Apparently he had heard nothing to amaze him.

“Colonel,” he returned calmly, dropping into a voice that sounded of pity for the gray hairs of the lobbyist, “about fifty men a day come to me with propositions like that.  There is nothing doing, Colonel.  I couldn’t possibly interest Senator Langdon, because he has the faculty of judging for himself, and he would be prejudiced against either town that came out with such, a proposition.”

“Lan’ speculation is legitimate,” protested, the Colonel, cunningly.

Haines agreed.

“Certainly—­by outsiders.  But it’s d—­d thievery when engaged in by any one connected with putting a bill through.  If I were to tell Senator Langdon what you have told me it would decide him unalterably in favor of Altacoola.  Senator Langdon, sir, is one of the few men in Washington who would rather be thought a fool than a grafter if it came down to that.”

The Mayor of Gulf City jumped to his feet, his face blazing in rage, not in shame.