“You cast aspersions upon my honor, sir. Through me you insult the people of Green’s Ferry—of this county—of this district—the enlightened and honorable constituency who it is my proud honor to represent. I sco-r-n to answer your insinuations, sir. They will be hurled back upon yourself by the united voice and righteous indignation of my justly aroused fellow-townsmen, by the voters of this noble district—I may say, by the whole State of California—to which I am not unknown, sir.”
Half-a-dozen of the justly aroused fellow-townsmen were straggling in from the street, for in Green’s Ferry a sprinkling of the citizens spend the warm afternoons sitting in absolute tranquillity on boxes and barrels here and there, under the awnings of the several business blocks; and the knowledge that a row was at last on between Judge Garvey and young Strong reached them at the first peal. The Judge, alive to the increase of his audience, raised his voice a shade, and went on with a curious mixture of complacency and genuine wrath.
“Is it lack of confidence that has sent me to represent my honorable constituency in the legislative halls of California, Mr. Strong? Have I received that proud token of esteem only to be insulted by one whose obscurity is his only shield; who, with unknown record, with no recommendation save his own overwhelming self-esteem, comes among us to sow dissent in peaceful counsels, and draw scorn and contempt upon his own head by impotent and futile attacks upon those whom he is powerless to harm?”
This rounded the climax well, so the Judge only added: “The call you propose, sir, I shall regard as a direct insult to myself,” and strode dramatically from the room.
The papered screen went crashing to the floor behind him. The justly aroused fellow-townsmen looked after him, laughing but admiring.
“Laid you out, didn’t he, Strong?”
“That’s the way he does it at Sacramento. Oh, the Judge is a real orator—there’s no doubt of that.”
“He don’t have to make his speech up before-hand. No, sir, right where he is, any time of day, he just turns the faucet, and there it comes.”
“What was the row, anyway, Strong?”
“I don’t know myself; something about a teacher—he began to bluster all of a sudden.” Strong walked over to the screen, picked it up, set it straight along a crack with intense precision, and went back to his seat. “Drunk, isn’t he? I haven’t heard him take the stump that way since election. He’s always made rather a point of not quarrelling with me, too.”