"I'd rather hear that from you, Tom, than the shouts of the rest of the world."
"I'm going to do my level best to prove myself worthy of the big faith you've shown in me—but why have you done it? What does it mean?"
"Simply this, my boy, that the time has come in the history of the South for a leader to strike the first blow in the battle for racial purity by establishing a clean American citizenship. I am going to disfranchise the Negro in this state as the first step toward the ultimate complete separation of the races."
The boy's eyes flashed:
"It's a big undertaking, sir."
"Yes."
"Is it possible?"
"Many say not. That's why I'm going to do it. The real work must come after this first step. Just now the campaign which I'm going to inaugurate to-morrow in a speech at the mass meeting celebrating our victory at Santiago, is the thing in hand. This campaign will take me away from home for several months. I must have a man here whom I can trust implicitly."
"I'll do my best, sir," the boy broke in.
"In case anything happens to me before it ends——"