“‘Don’t you talk to me about tricks, you ward-heeler!’ he hollers.  ’Why did you fetch Mr. Holway back home?  Why did you, hey?  That was the trickiest trick that I—­’

“Gabe pretty nigh broke his mallet thumpin’.

“‘Gentlemen! gentlemen!’ says he.  ’This is most unseemly.  Sit down, if you please.  Mr. Ellis, when the purpose of this association is considered, it seems to me very wrong to find fault because the chief of our former antagonists has seen the error of his ways and become one of us.  Mr. Bassett, I do not understand your intimation concernin’ myself.  I shall adjourn this meetin’ until next Friday evenin’, gentlemen.  Meanwhile, let us remember that we are gentlemen.’

“He thumped the desk once, and parades out of the buildin’, dignified as Julius Caesar.  The rest of us toddled along after him, all talkin’ at once.  Bassett and Ellis glowered at each other and hove out hints about what would happen afore they got through.  ’Twas half-past ten afore I got to bed that night, and Sarah J.—­that’s Mrs. Stitt—­kept me awake another hour explainin’ whys and wherefores.

“For the next three days nobody done anything but knock off work and talk club politics.  You’d see ’em on the corners and in the post office and camped on the meetin’-house steps, arguin’ and jawin’.  Dan and Gaius was hurryin’ around, moppin’ their foreheads and lookin’ worried.  On Thursday there was all sorts of rumors afloat.  Finally they all simmered down to one, and that one was what made me stop Stingy Gabe on the street and ask for my bearin’s.

“‘Mr. Holway,’ says I, ’is it true that Dan and Gaius have resigned and agreed to vote for somebody else?’

“He nodded, grand and complacent.

“‘Then who’s the somebody?’ says I.  ’For the land sakes! tell me.  It’s as big a miracle as the prodigal son.’

“I remember now that the prodigal son ain’t a miracle, but I was excited then.

“‘Stitt,’ says he, ’I am the “somebody,” as you call it.  I have decided to let my own wishes and inclinations count for nothin’ in this affair, and to accept the office of president myself.  It will be announced at the meetin’.’

“I whistled.  ‘By gum!’ says I.  ’You’ve got a great head, Mr. Holway, and I give you public credit for it.  It’s the only course that ain’t full of breakers.  Did you think of it yourself?’

“He colored up a little.  ‘Why, no, not exactly,’ he says.  ’The fact is, the credit belongs to our new member, Mr. Gale.’

“‘To Jotham?’ says I, astonished.

“’Yes.  He suggested my candidacy, as a compromise.  Said that he, for one, would be proud to vote for me.  Mr. Gale seems thoroughly repentant, a changed man.  I am counting on him for great things in the future.’

“So the fuss seemed settled, thanks to the last person on earth you’d expect would be peacemaker.  But that afternoon I met Darius Tompkins, Bassett’s right-hand man.