Shortly after that the House adjourned. Hudson, in leaving his seat, almost bumped against John Carlton. He looked at him with a malignant frown, and said bitterly: "You're a fine fellow to promise to support a bill!" "I withdrew my promise before it was too late," said the other one, quietly. "Yes, you withdrew it, but you made me a promise all the same." "I didn't make any promise." "I say you did!" "Well," said Carlton, easily, "there's no use wrangling over it. It's all over now." Hudson doubled up his fist, and shaking it at his adversary, said: "It's not all over. Not by a long sight! Every dog has his day, and I'll have mine sooner than you think!" Carlton laughed. "There's no use borrowing trouble," he said, lightly. "The dog-days won't be here for some time yet." As they passed out of the door into the corridor of the Capitol, a third member came up to Carlton and said: "John, were in the world did you dig up that report?" "Oh," was the response, "it was pulled out of a pile of old junk in my office." "How did you have the patience to go through that stuff?" asked the inquirer. "I didn't," was the reply. "It was discovered for me by a very bright boy, named Barry Wynn." CHAPTER VII BARRY STUMBLES As Barry Wynn and Joe Hart were walking down Pennsylvania Avenue the following morning, Joe suddenly turned to his friend and exclaimed laughingly: "Barry, this is the happiest day of all the glad new year!" Barry looked at Joe blankly. "Why; what's happened? Have you good news?" "Bully news." "What do you mean?" "Can't you guess?" "No, I can't." "Why, you old hayseed, this is pay-day." Barry's face beamed. Naturally he looked forward with great pleasure to the first money he had ever earned. He voiced his feelings to Joe: "The work here has been so pleasant that I actually lost count of the days. I never dreamt that I'd been in Washington for a month." "Well," said the practical one, "you'll know all right when you go up to the cashier's office this morning." The experienced boy led the novice to that part of the Capitol building where the pages received their checks. Barry had to sign the pay-roll and after that swore that he had rendered the service for which he was about to be paid. He was handed a nice, bright, crisp check drawn to the order of Barry Wynn against the Treasurer of the United States. He looked at it with ill-concealed curiosity and then gave a gasp of delight. The check was for sixty-eight dollars. He had worked a little less than a month, but the sight of the voucher for so much money gave him a sense of elation that he had never felt before.