"Don't be afraid," said the president. "I'm a member of the committee, myself, and when I take a candidate in hand, the others are pretty sure to let him alone. I've been in business long enough to know how to treat a man according to his style, I fancy."
The new candidate laughed heartily to himself, stared at the president so intently that he embarrassed the latter; then he shook his head with the air of a man to whom a new revelation had come, and he put a cigar in his mouth and started forward for a contemplative smoke.
As for President Lottson, he quoted to himself, with intense satisfaction, the passage:
"Whoso shall convert a sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins."
Then he searched the boat diligently for Captain Maile, and when he had found him he told him the news with evident exultation, and the captain replied:
"Another crooked stick reserved unto the final burning."
"See here, Maile," said Mr. Lottson, "this is nonsense, and you're the last man who should be guilty of it. Your father and grandfather were among the founders of the church in this section of country."
"That's true," said the captain, "and to save the family reputation from disgrace, I've had to spend some of the money they left me in trying to undo some of the mischief they did."
"Then you're a fool," said the president. "That may sound like plain talk, but it's true; you should have learned, as your ancestors did, that religion is one thing and business is another."
"Oh, I've learned it," said the captain, "and I've also learned that the devil, if there is a devil, is the father of that precious notion, and that it's worth millions to him. Do you suppose I think any more of men because they belong to the church? Do you imagine I look over your policies any less carefully than I do those of Bennett, who don't believe in God, devil, or anybody else? Do you suppose I'll take Whilcher's word a minute quicker when he gets into the church than I do now? Not a bit of it. The church is the hope of the honest and the mask of the rascally. How did you like the way the lesson went yesterday?"