Hollis smiled. “Then you won’t object to being the Kicker’s candidate?” he inquired.
“Object!” returned Allen with mock seriousness. “Say, young man, if you don’t keep my name at the head of your editorial column from now till the first Monday in November I’ll come down here and manhandle you!”
And so it was arranged. Dry Bottom gasped in public but rejoiced in secret. Many of the town’s merchants personally congratulated Hollis.
But for two days following the appearance of the issue of the Kicker containing these sensations, Hollis stayed away from Dry Bottom. Now that he had launched Allen’s campaign and placed the other matters before his readers, he began to devote some attention to the problem of arranging for Ed Hazelton’s visit to the great Chicago surgeon. Both Nellie and Ed had been disappointed because of his continued absence, and when, on an afternoon a few days after his activity in Dry Bottom, he rode up to the Hazelton cabin his welcome was a cordial one.
“It seems like a year since I’ve seen you!” declared Hazelton as he came down from the porch to lead Hollis’s pony into the shade at the rear of the cabin.
While he was gone with the pony Hollis stood looking up at Nellie, who had remained seated in her chair on the porch and who was now regarding him with eyes in which shone unconcealed pleasure.
“It hasn’t really been so long, you know,” said Hollis, smiling at her. “But then, I have been so busy that I may not have noticed it.”
Of course she could not tell him how many times she had sat on the porch during Ed’s absences watching the Coyote trail. But she blushed and made room for him on the porch. Ed appeared presently and joined them there. The young man was not able to conceal his joy over the prospect of his ultimate recovery from the peculiar malady that afflicted him, and gratitude mingled with it as he looked at his benefactor. He had not recovered from an attack the day before.
“We’ve got it all arranged,” he told Hollis with a wan smile. “I’m going to Chicago just as soon as I can get things fixed.” He reddened with embarrassment as he continued: “There’s some things that I’d like to talk to you about before I make up my mind when to start,” he said; “I’ve been worrying about what to do with my stock while I’m gone. I wouldn’t want it to stray or be run off by Dunlavey’s gang.” The appeal in his eyes did not escape Hollis’s keen observation.
“I have thought of that too,” smiled the latter. “In fact, I have talked it over with Norton. He tells me that he won’t have any trouble in caring for your stock while you are away.”