Honestus and his colleagues therefore retired to a dim passage-way--where, as he subsequently remarked, he should have been rather alarmed to meet either of them at night and alone--and business began. Various names were mentioned, of which, unfortunately, Honestus had never heard one; and at length one of the most positive of the committee said, emphatically, that, upon the whole, Sly was the very man for the place. There was a general murmur of assent and satisfaction. Honestus heard on every side that it was "just the thing;" that Sly was "an A1 boy," and that he was "always there;" he was also "square," and "right up to the line;" and by common consent Sly seemed to be the Heaven-appointed candidate. Rather disturbed by his total ignorance of this conspicuous public character, Honestus turned to his neighbor and said, guardedly, with the air of a man who was musing upon Sly's qualifications, "Oh, Sly--Sly?" "Yes," said his neighbor, "Sly." "Certainly," replied Honestus; "certainly. But--who--is--Sly?" His neighbor looked at him for a moment, and repeated the question in a tone of incredulity--"_Who is Sly?_"--as if he had said, Who is George Washington? "Yes; I don't think that I know him." "Don't know Sly?" "No." "Well, if you did know him, you'd know that he's just the man we want; bang up; made for it." "Oh, is he?" "You bet--A1." "Well," said the member who had first announced that Sly was the very man for the place, "I suppose they'll be waiting. I nominate Sly as the candidate." The chairman said yes, but that, unfortunately for himself, he did not know Mr. Sly. "Well, you don't know anything against him, do you?" asked the other. "Certainly not." "Well, we all know him, and he is the very man. We ought to hurry." Honestus put the question, and Sly was unanimously named as the candidate to be reported to the meeting by the chairman. The meeting was already stamping and clapping and calling for the committee, and the energetic mover of Sly said that it was necessary to go in right away. The committee made for the hall, and the chairman followed. He knew nothing of Sly nor of the people who had named him, and he knew nobody else whom he could propose for the place. Honestus felt very much as a leaf might feel upon the fall at Niagara, and in the next moment the chairman of the meeting was asking him if the committee were ready to report. The chairman of the committee bowed. The chairman of the meeting said that the report would now be made. Honestus stated that he was instructed to report the name of Sly. The meeting roared. There was some thumping by the chairman, and Honestus heard only the name of Sly and "by acclamation," and a whirlwind of calls upon "Sly!" "Sly!" "Speech!" "Speech!" The next moment Sly, with a large diamond pin, was upon the platform thanking and promising, and the meeting was stormily cheering and adjourning _sine die_.