"Oh, sit down!" echoed a neighbor wearily.
"We can easy find somebody else if Yeates won't do!" cried another voice.
"I am well aware of that," said Luke, "and so I don't propose to quibble——"
"Ain't he obligin'?" called the back-row man.
"And besides," Luke continued, "if you would only listen to me for a minute, you'll find out that I came here with my mind made up to do just what you're now asking me to do."
He could feel their amazement at his words and so he no longer heeded the back-row man's comment:
"You mean you came here to sit down?"
"Have I the floor?" asked Luke of Venable.
The chairman writhed.
"In that case," Luke pursued, choosing to accept Venable's movement as a sign of assent, "I only want to say that I made up my mind this morning, of my own free will, to leave the ticket and the League."