"He's 'most as old as Napoleon was when he crossed the Alps, older than Pitt was when he became prime minister," replied Strickland. "Before this thing ends -God knows how, I don't-we 'll all be following his lead, as the liquor men follow Denman. We'd be as crazy as Harpswell, doing what we are now, if it were n't for his paper. We could n't make it understood, and we'd go down in a storm of public indignation."

"As far as I can make out," said Bradford, "neither you nor Craigin think what we 're doing now is going to end the war?"

"Craigin does n't. I would n't want it known, for it would discourage some of the others. He thinks we 've got to lose the first campaign.”

"Why does he think so?"

"Because that fool Harpswell made delay ruin, and we had to begin before we were ready."

"You say you 've got all the law and all the evidence you want?"

"Yes; I'm looking to next term of court. That's as far as I can see. Craigin 's got a longer head than I have. He's looking 'way into the future. His plan is to mold and fuse the temperance sentiment of this county into one solid mass, to make temperance men an army instead of a mob, to enlist on our side every human motive, from pure philanthropy to greed of gain and office. It seemed like a chimera to me when he first spoke of it, but he 's studying it out day and night in all its details, and he believes it can be done."

V

PROSECUTIONS EXTRAORDINARY

HE complaints measured fifteen bushels and weighed half a ton. The battle was opened by serving notice on each defendant and

summoning witnesses for the following day. Hundreds of people, indignant at being summoned in liquor cases, found themselves among the élite of the town, who wondered what they were wanted for. The court-house was crowded. Even standing-room was hard to get.

"I present a complaint against Mr. Denman," said Strickland.

It charged Denman with being a common seller of spirituous liquors on the day before the date of the Harpswell prosecution. The names of the signers created a sensation.

"Mr. Denman will plead not guilty, waive examination, and furnish bail," said his counsel.

"I have another against Mr. O'Leary," continued Strickland.

Complaints against thirty-five different parties were disposed of in the same manner. Strickland took

them from his coat pocket, and thus far the defense had no intimation that more were coming.

"Here is a second complaint against Mr. Denman.” And he resorted to another pocket. It was exactly like the first, except that the offense was laid on the preceding day.

"Let me see that complaint!" exclaimed Woods. "What does this mean?" he demanded, on looking at it.

"What does what mean?"

"Two complaints for the same alleged offense. Everything printed. Nothing in writing but dates and signatures. How many of these things are there?" "In all, or against Mr. Denman?"

"Either-both."

"Between five and six hundred against Mr. Denman; about eighteen thousand in all."

A perceptible thrill ran through the court-room. Men and women looked at Strickland and at each other in blank amazement. Some of the defendants turned pale. Denman, always pale, betrayed no sign of emotion, except that his teeth were set.

"Eighteen thousand!" Woods cried.

ous! Monstrous! Impossible!"

"Preposter

"I may as well state my position at once," Strickland said. He did so in the midst of a death-like silence. Then he gave the authorities on which he relied, reading slowly from his little book, and waiting for the judge and the counsel to take minutes of volume and page.

"Suppose the law is as you claim, and suppose you persist in this outrage, where 's the evidence to

maintain eighteen thousand prosecutions ?" demanded Woods.

"Here,” replied Strickland, pointing to thirty-five large, thin books beside him; "here, and from this cloud of witnesses. I want you to have time to investigate the law. I want these defendants to understand my position. I don't want any of them fined or imprisoned, but simply that the lockout which is ruining the town may be ended and the law obeyed."

"So you make opening the hotels a condition of royal mercy," sneered Woods.

"No; the law has nothing to do with closing the hotels and systematic diversion of business to other towns. You can judge as well as I can whether selfinterest will change all this when it is understood that the law must be obeyed. If you'd like these matters continued until to-morrow

"I think it would be well," interrupted the judge. "I want to examine the law myself."

Judge Bond was not in sympathy with the liquor traffic, but, like hundreds of other good men, he was strongly opposed to the methods which Strickland and the executive committee had adopted. He was a good lawyer. He was also incorruptible, conscientious, and impartial, and everybody knew it. He adjourned court, determined to know, if possible, what the law was. He hunted up all authorities within reach, read them carefully, some of them several times, and then, lighting his pipe, tried to consider, analyze, and weigh them from all points of view.

Under the decisions it was clear that one might be guilty as a common seller, as a keeper of spirituous

liquors, and as a keeper of malt liquors all on the same day. The question was whether he could be guilty of each of these three distinct offenses on each day for an indefinite period. No court, so far as he could find, had ever decided that question. The principle, however, had been applied time out of mind to commonlaw nuisances. Was there-could there be-any reason why it should not equally apply to continuing offenses against the prohibitory law. The more he sought a logical answer in the affirmative, the harder it seemed to find one. He found decisions from which the inferences were irresistible. It had been held that two prosecutions could be maintained at the same term of court, one for being a common seller in January, and another for being one in February. If two, why not three hundred and sixty-five? The law always took account of fractions of months and of days, but not of fractions of days.

The next morning the court-room was packed as before, and the major part of the people stood outside because they could not get inside. If Strickland's legal position were sustained, the hearing would go on; if not, the eighteen thousand complaints would be waste paper. As representing the affirmative, he expected to open the argument.

"I won't trouble you now," said the judge. "I'll hear Brother Woods."

The remark indicated that the judge was strongly inclined to Strickland's view. Woods, ignoring the judicial decisions, made an eloquent speech on the constitutional provisions in regard to unusual punishments and excessive bail, and threatened the commit