“Sshh!” Foster Townsend brought his palm down upon his knee with a crack which startled the representative of an outraged people to silence. “Be still!” ordered the captain. He slowly shook his head. “Well, there!” he went on, in a calmer tone. “That was a real pretty speech of yours, but you needn’t finish it; I can guess the end. I have said more than I meant to say, myself. No use wasting time. Although,” with another momentary outburst, “when I think of how you and your gang worked and schemed to put a lone woman out of her job, I-- Humph!... Mooney, she isn’t going to be put out of it. She is going to stay right where she is.” The Honorable Alpheus stared. Then he smiled, a smile of dignified pity. “Townsend,” he proclaimed, loftily, “I don’t see what you hope to gain by this sort of thing. Simeon Thacher will be the Harniss postmaster. The appointment is made--or as good as made. That is my final word to you.” Townsend lifted his hand. “Better wait until you hear mine, Mooney,” he said, warningly. “I was fussing with politics when you were running to school and I have learned enough to know that nothing political is done until it has _been_ done.... I went up to see Senator Gore last week. He and I are old friends.” A change came over Mr. Mooney’s face. It lost something of its confidence, its high disdain. “Well--well, I am very glad you did,” he asserted, after an instant’s pause. “Yes, indeed. The Senator is a friend of mine, too, I am proud to say. He knows all about this post office matter. I advised with him before I made up my own mind.” And now it was Townsend who smiled. He seemed amused. “Oh, so you ‘advised’ with him, did you?” he chuckled. “Well, your advice must have been worth listening to.... There, there! Wait a minute more. _I_ ‘advised’ with the Senator myself. And he seemed to be interested. He ought to be. I knew him before he was Senator. I’ve done him a good many favors down here in this district. He hadn’t forgotten them. A good memory is a mighty valuable item of cargo to have aboard, if you are cruising in politics. That’s a piece of advice I’ll hand over to you, Mooney, and I won’t charge for it. Senator Gore remembers favors. _He_ is a big man.” The Congressman would have spoken, but the captain did not give him the opportunity.