“Then you won’t consider my offer?” demanded Halliday sourly.
“Certainly not!”
“I don’t believe you can control the Harkness votes,” put in Andy. “I believe Jack will get a whole lot of them on the next ballot.”
“He won’t get a one of them, and he’ll lose some of his own!” answered Paul Halliday. “You just wait and see!” And then he walked away.
“Jack, that move might have given you the majorship,” said Fred.
“If I’ve got to get it that way, Fred, I don’t want it,” was the prompt reply. “I wouldn’t vote for Harkness under any circumstances. He’s in hand and glove with Brassy Bangs, Halliday, Sands, and that whole bunch; and I don’t believe he ought to be an officer.”
A few minutes later came a commotion near the main entrance of the Hall. A cadet named Gibson who was doing some electioneering for Glasby had knocked Paul Halliday down, and there was every prospect of a fight when the two cadets were separated by a number of friends.
“He offered to sell the Harkness vote if our crowd would vote later on the way he wanted us to!” declared Gibson. “You would think he had half the vote of the Hall in his pocket,” and he glared at Halliday, who thereupon lost no time in sneaking out of sight.
The report that Halliday, Sands, and even Brassy Bangs were trying to sell the Harkness vote in exchange for some votes for a captaincy soon spread, and a number of the cadets who had voted for the lieutenant became disgusted and promptly said they were going to change. A lively discussion followed, in the midst of which the bell rang for the second ballot.
“Gee, Jack! if some of those fellows do change their votes I hope they come to you,” murmured Gif.