This speech had to be revised in some particulars by Bud, and the work he knew would take up much of the morning. The Senator's speech was "The South of the Future," which he would deliver when recognized by the President of the Senate in connection with the naval base bill, that officer having agreed to recognize Langdon at 3:30, at which time the report of the naval affairs committee would be received. Just how Langdon would turn the tables on Peabody and Stevens and yet win for the Altacoola site not even the ex-newspaper man, experienced in politics, had solved. Clearly the Senator would have to do some tall thinking during the morning.
The junior Senator from Mississippi burst into the office with his habitual cheery greeting, his broad-brimmed black felt hat in its usual position on the back of his head, like a symbol of undying defiance.
"A busy day for us, eh, Senator?" queried Bud.
"Now, look here, my boy, don't begin to remind me of work right off," he said, with a humorous gleam in his eye. "Go easy on me. Don't forget I'm her father."
Bud laughed through the flush that rose in his cheeks.
"No, I won't forget that. But have you decided what to tell Peabody and Stevens as your plan of action if they come in here at 12:30?"
"If they come?" exclaimed Langdon. "They'll come. Watch 'em."
Then he hesitated, worriedly.
"I'll have to incubate an idea between now and noon, somehow. But don't forget this, Bud—we're worried about them, true enough, but they're worried a heap more about us."
Senator Langdon stepped into an adjoining room, where he could be alone, to "incubate."