"It's the most serious fight we've ever had in the district. It's so unexpected. And I can't see how we are to blame. The organization backed your nomination cordially. We couldn't foresee that Volney Sprague would make trouble, any more than we could know that O'Rourke would gorge himself to apoplexy. And who, for the love of heaven, would have thought Bernard Graves would step into Chuck O'Rourke's shoes! I've been in politics for thirty years, Ross, with my fair share of good luck and bad, but I've never been up against the equal of this. It's--it's--" He broke off in despair of adequate characterization. "Brace up, brace up. You need a brandy and soda." "I've had two." "Then take a glass of milk," rallied Shelby; "paregoric, boneset tea, anything. I'm ashamed of you." Bowers smiled wanly. "You're a younger man, Ross. You can rebound. I can't any more. I'm too old. I--I've lost confidence in myself." "I haven't lost confidence in myself," ejaculated Shelby. "No such alliance of thugs and goody-goods shall down me. I'm in this game to stay and to win." His stout words in some degree bolstered the discouraged veteran, and they turned presently to a discussion of ways and means. The outlook was not cheering. The fusion of the opposition had fallen at a time when the funds collected to meet the exigencies of an ordinary campaign had been mainly expended. "The State Committee must help," declared Shelby. "There's no valid reason why they shouldn't. The corporations have given them everything they asked this year." "I sounded the Boss. He was not encouraging." "Damn him," said Shelby, "what does he want?" That question would recur. "We have raised everything locally that our people will stand, and you may say that of the Demijohn generally. If there's more to be got, it must come from those most concerned." "You mean me, I suppose?" "It's your political future that's at stake." Shelby drummed his desk. By and by, taking his check-book, he began to run through the stubs, jotting figures on a pad. "I've spent three thousand dollars already," he said at last. "Three thousand legitimate dollars. I've never footed it up before, and it's rather staggering. Of course, the big items--the assessments of the local committee and the other county committees--I had kept in mind. What I have not realized was the constant drain of small amounts for this and that,--printing, lithographs, bands, flag-raisings, you know what. And treats--why, I spent over seventy-five dollars in bar money alone the day of the Pioneers' picnic, while the County Fair meant the price of a good horse. It's a good thing for me that the torchlight idiocy has gone out. Still, the 'Shelby Base-ball Club' is as big a nuisance. Three thousand legitimate dollars," he repeated. "We now come to the illegitimate."