“I think so. I thought I’d check them off from Chambers’s list as they voted.”
“I suppose that’s the best. If they wouldn’t keep moving around so we could check them off now. Jake was trying to get Lowd back into the fold awhile ago; did you notice? But I guess he didn’t succeed, for I heard Lowd tell him to run away!”
One by one the voters handed their folded slips to Joe Chambers and gave their names. Joe laid the ballots in an open drawer at his side and crossed off the voter’s name on the roster, announcing it aloud as he did so. Both Dan and Arthur got their votes in early, and Hiltz was only a minute behind them. Then the first two, who had drawn apart to watch and confer, noticed excitement in the Hiltz camp. Hiltz compared the list he held with that on the desk, searched the room with his gaze, talked vehemently with one of his supporters, and finally dispatched that youth on an errand.
“Somebody’s missing,” said Dan in low tones. “What time is it?”
“Ten after. They’ll have to hurry if they want to get him.”
Hiltz was plainly nervous and anxious, passing from the window to the door, disappearing in the corridor and hurrying back again.
“Well, our fellows are all here,” said Arthur. “Murdock is voting now, and he’s the last one. Look at Hiltz, will you! I’m going to see who’s missing.”
Arthur wormed his way through the group about the desk and leaned over the list. While he was gone a sandy-haired fellow approached Dan.
“I hope you’ll win, Vinton,” he said. “It was funny about that letter of yours. It came at about eleven one morning, and then at three that afternoon I got a letter from Hiltz asking me to vote for him. I was glad yours came first, though, for I’d rather you got it.”