“Yes, and I’m up to beat Jake Hiltz. We want to get Gerald through this time and Hiltz will down him as sure as fate. He did last spring, you know, and he’s bound to now after what happened this morning.”
“That’s so. All right, I’ll vote for you, Vinton. But I’m mighty afraid that Hiltz has the thing cinched. I’d withdraw and give you my votes, but that wouldn’t defeat Hiltz. I wish it would. But I’ll help you all I can.”
“Will you? Then just look at this list and see what fellows you think you can influence.”
Arthur looked it over. Then he took out his pen and copied half a dozen of the names on the back of an envelope. “I’ll look after these,” he said in a businesslike way, “the first thing in the morning. Is Jake here to-night?”
“He was before the debate, but he’s gone. Maybe he’s canvassing now. I wonder——”
“What?”
“I wonder why he’s so anxious to be reëlected, Thompson.”
“That’s so! He hasn’t said a thing about it to me. It looks as though he had just started in to-day, doesn’t it? Do you suppose——”
“That he wants to get back so as to defeat Gerald again? I wouldn’t be a bit surprised. It certainly looks that way. I’ve spoken to eleven fellows here this evening and they all said that Hiltz had been after them before the debate.”
“Then that’s just what he’s up to, Vinton! You heard about the protest he made against Gerald?”