"An' now we've only got a week to get ready in, but a week's as good as a month. We must cinch the thing in Tazewell an' Logan an' Mason. That end o' the district's our's naturally. We'll give 'em Piatt an' DeWitt; an' Moultrie--course they've got that coopered up already." Garwood placed the tips of his fingers together and knitted his brows in thought. Rankin dutifully awaited the result of his thinking. "Don't you think," the congressman said presently, "that we could gain a few more votes here in Polk? Perhaps, with certain concessions, Pusey might--" Rankin did not, however, dutifully await the full expression of the thought. "Concessions hell!" he cried. "Concessions to that little whelp? Well, I should say not! We'll lick him, an' then ram it down his throat!" Rankin breathed heavily as he exploded this imperfect figure. "We want to clean that little mess up right now, onct an' fer all," he added, when he could get breath again. He was puffing in a fat, angry way. "No, sir, you'n I'll take a run down to Havana, find Zeph Bailey, an' see if we can't sew up them eighteen votes from Mason. Then we'll hike up to Pekin an' attend Joe Hale's convention. Then on Saturday we'll drop into Lincoln, an' you'll make 'em a speech. I'll also make a few well chosen remarks myself--at the other end o' the hall. We'll concentrate on them counties. Course, it won't do no harm to make a try in DeWitt an' Piatt, but I don't look fer much there. We only need eighty-three votes; we've got ninety-four in sight--ef none of 'em gets away." Rankin had a faculty of reassuring himself, and the faculty was somehow stimulated after the first pangs of defeat had been soothed. "How sure is Tazewell?" Garwood inquired, still with his finger tips together, his eyes half closed in cogitation. "Well, now, Joe Hale hain't a goin' to let that post-office get away from him. You can count on them thirty sure. Jim thinks Logan's all right--they like you over there, you know, an' Mac says Mason'll be solid. But we'll have to watch that. We may lose out there, but I don't think so--aw, hell, no!" Rankin refused to credit his own fears. "We'll get 'em. Damn it, we must get 'em!" He struck his own knee this time, and with his fist.