Kenneth frowned.

“It won’t be easy, you know.  It’ll be a fight, and a hard one, for Hopkins won’t give up his job if he can help it.”

The boy brightened again.

“I like a good fight,” he said, wistfully.  “If I thought—­if I believed I could fill the position with credit—­I might undertake it.”

“I’ll answer for that,” retorted the old man, highly pleased with his easy victory.  “You win the fight, Ken, and I’ll guarantee you’ll outclass the majority of your fellow Representatives.  It’s a good state, too.”

So the thing was undertaken, and both the young man and the old threw themselves into the contest with energy and determination.

Mr. Watson rode in his buggy all over their district during the next fortnight, and interviewed the farmers and townsmen of the legislative district.  When it became noised about that the young owner of Elmhurst, now barely twenty-one, had determined to enter politics, and asked for the nomination of Representative, no other Republican ventured to oppose him.

It was understood to mean a hard fight, and even the most sturdy Republican was inclined to fear that the present incumbent of the office would be elected to succeed himself.

So the primaries were held and Kenneth attended and made a speech, and was warmly applauded.  His nomination was a matter of course, and he went home the unanimous choice of his party, because none of the older and more discreet politicians ventured to risk defeat.

The Hon. Erastus Hopkins well knew this feeling, and smiled in his pompous and most sardonic manner when he learned who was his opponent.  Having conquered an old and tried Republican warrior in the last campaign, he had no fears in regard to this mere boy, who could know little of political intrigue.

“He won’t put up enough of a fight to make it interesting, I’m afraid,” Mr. Hopkins confided to his cronies.

But he didn’t intend to take chances, so he began the campaign with his usual vigor.

It was now the middle of September, and the election was to be early in November.

CHAPTER V

PLANNING THE WORK

The Honorable Erastus Hopkins was thoroughly enjoying his campaign.

He was not an especially popular man in his district, and he knew it.  Physically he was big and stout, with a florid face and small eyes that blinked continually.  His head was bald, his hands fat and red and his feet enormous.

To offset this Mr. Hopkins wore a silk hat and a “Prince Albert” coat morning, noon and night.  His gold watch-chain was huge and imposing; he had a big diamond shirt-stud, and upon his puffy fingers several rings.  He conveyed, nevertheless, the impression that he was more prosperous than refined, and the farmers and townsmen were as quick to recognize this as was Mr. Watson himself.