Mr. Kinney, presiding, held in his hand, in lieu of a gavel, and considered much more impressive, a Civil War relic known as a “horse-pistol.” He rapped loudly for order. “All Friends of the Ace will take their seats!” he said sharply. “I’m president of the F. O. T. A. now, George Minafer, and don’t you forget it! You and Charlie Johnson sit down, because I was elected perfectly fair, and we’re goin’ to hold a meeting here.”
“Oh, you are, are you?” said George skeptically.
Charlie Johnson thought to mollify him. “Well, didn’t we call this meeting just especially because you told us to? You said yourself we ought to have a kind of celebration because you’ve got back to town, George, and that’s what we’re here for now, and everything. What do you care about being president? All it amounts to is just calling the roll and—”
The president de facto hammered the table. “This meeting will now proceed to—”
“No, it won’t,” said George, and he advanced to the desk, laughing contemptuously. “Get off that platform.”
“This meeting will come to order!” Mr. Kinney commanded fiercely.
“You put down that gavel,” said George. “Whose is it, I’d like to know? It belongs to my grandfather, and you quit hammering it that way or you’ll break it, and I’ll have to knock your head off.”
“This meeting will come to order! I was legally elected here, and I’m not going to be bulldozed!”
“All right,” said Georgie. “You’re president. Now we’ll hold another election.”
“We will not!” Fred Kinney shouted. “We’ll have our reg’lar meeting, and then we’ll play euchre & nickel a corner, what we’re here for. This meeting will now come to ord—”