"I'm dreadfully hard up," said Abel. "I have just the d----est luck you ever conceived, and I must raise some money." The fat nose glistened again, while the General sat silently pondering. "I can lend you a thousand," he said, at length. "Thank you. It will oblige me very much." "Upon conditions," added the General. "Conditions?" asked Abel, surprised. "I mean understandings," said the General. "Oh! certainly," answered Abel. "You pledge yourself to me and our friends that you will at the earliest moment move in the matter of the Grant; you engage to secure the votes somehow, relying upon the pecuniary aid of our friends who are interested; and you will repay me out of your first receipts. Ele will stand by you through thick and thin. We keep him there for that purpose." "My dear Belch, I promise any thing you require. I only want the money." "Give me your hand, Newt. From the bottom of my soul I do respect a man who has no scruples." They shook hands heartily, and filling their glasses they drank "Success!" The General then wrote a check and a little series of instructions, which he gave to Abel, while Abel himself scribbled an I.O.U., which the General laid in his pocket-book. "You'll have an eye on, Ele," said the General, as he buttoned his coat. "Certainly--two if you want," answered Abel, lazily, repeating the joke. "He's a good fellow, Ele is," said Belch; "but he's largely interested, and he'll probably try to chouse us out of something by affecting superior influence. You must patronize him to the other men. Keep him well under. I have a high respect for cellar stairs, but they mustn't try to lead up to the roof. Good-by. Hail Newt! Senator that shall be!" laughed the General, as he shook hands and followed his fat nose out of the door. Left to himself, Abel walked for some time up and down his room, with his hands buried in his pocket and a sneering smile upon his face. He suddenly drew one hand out, raised it, clenched it, and brought it down heavily in the air, as he muttered, contemptuously, "What a stupid fool! I wonder if he never thinks, as he looks in the glass, that that fat nose of his is made to lead him by." For the sagacious and fat-nosed General had omitted to look at the little paper Newt handed to him, thinking it would be hardly polite to do so under the circumstances. But if he had looked he would have seen that the exact sum they had spoken of had been forgotten, and a very inconsiderable amount was specified. It had flashed across Abel's mind in a moment that if the General subsequently discovered it and were disposed to make trouble, the disclosure of the paper of instructions which he had written, and which Abel had in his possession, would ruin his hopes of political financiering. "And as for my election, why, I have my certificate in my pocket." CHAPTER LXXIV. MIDNIGHT.