“I reckon he ain’t entirely over that wound,” Corwin told an intimate friend.  “We’ll have to get along without him, this time.”  But there was a light in Corwin’s eyes which told that he was not unaware of the significance of Lawler’s trip to the capital with McGregor.

There came a day when Corwin and his brother-delegates got on a train at Willets and were taken to the capital.  And there came another day when they returned.  They brought a brass band with them; and Willets closed its doors and went out into the street—­and crowded the station platform, where the band was playing, and where the returned delegates, frenzied with joy, were shrieking above the din:  “Hurrah for Kane Lawler!  Lawler—­our next governor!  Hip, hip—­HOORRAY!”

“We swamped ’em!” howled a crimson-faced enthusiast; “there was nothin’ to it!  Unanimous after the first vote!  HOORRAY!”

In his office, Gary Warden heard the shouting; saw the crowd, and listened to the cheers.  He stood at one of the windows, balefully watching; sneering at the delegates who had returned, flushed with victory.  Singleton, scowling, stood beside Warden.

They saw half a dozen men draw apart from the others.  Later the men—­delegates, from the gay badges appended to them—­rode out of town, southward.

“Reception committee,” sneered Warden.  “They’re going to escort Lawler to town.  Let’s go to the Two Diamond.  I’ll be damned if I want to be in town to watch Lawler grin when he sees that crowd!  There’s a dozen big guns in that bunch, who have come down from the capital to watch the fun.  Well, it’s no fun for me!”

However, it was “fun” for the delighted citizens of Willets, who, some hours later, saw the reception committee returning with Lawler.  They escorted him to a platform which had been erected in the middle of the street in the absence of the reception committee, where, after the crowd had cheered him many times, Lawler made his first speech as the candidate of his party.

Energetic citizens had gayly decorated the street with flags and bunting—­taking Corwin’s entire stock—­and the varicolored decorations swathed the town from end to end.

Warden and Singleton had scurried out of town long before the coming of Lawler.  But Jimmy Singleton, with a number of other children who had mercifully been dismissed by the school teacher, were close to the platform during the celebration.

“He’s gonna be governor, Jimmy,” whispered one of Jimmy’s companions, awe in his voice as he indicated Lawler, who was just concluding his speech.

“I’ve knowed him a long time,” went on Jimmy’s friend, proudly.

“Huh!” said Jimmy; “I’ve knowed him longer than you.  An’ besides, he walloped me.  An’ he walloped my paw, too!”

Shorty had ridden to town with Lawler; and Shorty rode home with the candidate for governor—­after the citizens of Willets had shouted themselves hoarse and the prominent men who had come down from the capital had taken the evening train home.