"Thank you, sir. I don't think I will. Don't worry about me, sir. I've lots of stout-hearted friends. I'm not afraid."
"Don't forget you can count on me, too. Though, in a case like this, Adair, my hands are tied, very tied——"
"I know, sir. But, so long as I satisfy you, sir, I don't care a tinker's curse——"
"Good man, good man! It will be a hard fight, though! He's raised quite a storm, Adair—a growing storm—growing!"
They went back to the mess together.
II
The Commissioner's promise of support increased Hector's confidence in his ability to deal with his enemy. He had always known, of course, that this support was to be relied on. When it was a matter of defending one of his officers against an unjust assault, the Commissioner's course was plain. Still, it was pleasant to hear, from his chief's own lips, that the powerful weight of headquarters was behind him.
But the real danger lay in Welland's influence with others. He could so stir up the public against Hector, who was unable to make a move to defend himself, that he might at last be forced to resign. Or Welland might, with the assistance of his political colleagues, compel the Government to remove the Superintendent at Broncho. No justification would be offered—he would simply be told that his services were no longer required. Such things had often happened, the victim being invariably damned in the eyes of the public, who knew nothing of the facts. A third possibility—and most dangerous—was that Hector, through no fault of his own, might fail the public in some big crisis and be removed, at Welland's instigation, as inefficient.
But against this, as he had told the Commissioner, he could gather hosts of friends, old stagers who knew him actually for what he was, not to be shaken by every changing wind, strong men, true as steel. Hector, on account of his position, could not, and in any case, would not, ask their aid; but they had watched the summer's developments, and come forward voluntarily to lend their aid.
Welland's attitude regarding the affair of Demon George and the Marquis had been particularly effective in bringing Hector recruits. The Eastern papers might have thought less of the politician's claim to represent Western public opinion had they witnessed the enlistment of, say, Jim Jackson, now among the biggest ranchers of the Territories.