Murphy shrugged his shoulders. "How much pull would the devil himself have if he promised repudiation? Tell me that, Boss!"
"Is the chap who is running against him any good?"
"Who, Ives? Is a bag of jelly an implement of war? What have you got on your mind, Boss?"
"Well, to tell the truth, Murphy, I've just come to! The election is just three months off, isn't it? I am going to try to lick Fleckenstein in that time."
"Can't be done, Boss, unless you'll take the stump yourself."
"Of course, that's out of the question," replied Jim. "But this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to see every farmer in the valley and have a good talk with him. I'm going to make him see this Project as I do. And I'm going to send for half a dozen of the best men in the Department of Agriculture to come out here and get the newcomers interested in scientific farming. I'm not going to mention Fleckenstein's name."
Murphy looked at Jim, then out at the irrigating ditch along which the machine was moving slowly. "Boss," he said, "go ahead if it'll ease you up any, but you might as well try to fight a hydrophobia skunk with a perfume atomizer as to try them high-brow methods on Fleckenstein."
Jim laughed. "Well, do you know of a better method, Murphy?"
"Yes, the good, old-fashioned way of putting up more whisky, more money and more free rides than the other fellow does."
Jim turned the machine back toward the power station. "Of course, you know that that is out of the question, Murphy."