I

FORMING THE LEAGUE

"IT down a minute," said Strickland, as Craigin dropped into his office. "I want

to read you this letter. It's to the chief justice:

DEAR SIR: Having decided to leave Apsleigh as soon as I can settle my affairs, I herewith tender my resignation as county attorney. The gallant fight for my last election and a desire not to shirk duty have caused me to think many times before taking this step; but, under the existing circumstances, I see no objection to being governed by my personal interests."

"That's a good letter to light your pipe with," said Craigin. "Let's look at it! I'll bet it took a day to write it!" he continued, after reading it carefully. "What makes you think so?"

"Because it's so short, hints so much, and says so little."

"It took more 'n that, for it 's three boiled down. The first was thirty pages, the second two, the third a dozen lines."

"I wish you 'd read between these dozen lines. What's the English of it?"

"The English is, we 're licked, and it 's woe to the vanquished. If I stay here I shall be nothing but an object-lesson of how men ruin themselves and their friends trying to protect the public from itself. I've talked this over with Bradford and Harnett and several of our best men. They all see it as I do."

"You did n't talk with me."

"Good reason why! I knew you'd say, 'Fight on!' Craigin, if going to the stake would give us victory, I'd go there with a light heart, but it's no use talking of 'ifs.' We 've met our Waterloo, and you 're the only man won't own it."

"There are more temperance men than liquor men in Apsleighshire, more even in Apsleigh.”

"Yes, such as they are! They go to mass-meetings, sing 'Hold the Fort' loud enough to be heard a mile, put a cent in the hat, pat me on the back and say, 'Good dog, Towser! Sick 'im, Towser!' but they 're mighty careful not to get in the way of the old lion's paw."

"You've had a mighty tough time of it, old man, and I don't wonder you feel this way, but don't you know that some of the best fighting armies in history have been made from worse material? I guess it 's better stuff than Cæsar's tenth legion was to begin with. The raw recruit turns pale at the smell of gunpowder and runs away; when discipline and battle have made him a soldier he dies at the cannon's mouth with a cheer on his lips. No matter about that now. What do you mean by 'personal interests'?"

"No one knows better than you that it's the settled policy to divert business from every one who 's been

prominent on our side. If it were mere spite they 'd get tired of it, but teaching us not to meddle with their business is the most effective way of protecting themselves. There is n't a doctor in town who can stand an organized and systematic sneering away of his professional reputation. There's Edwards-lost all his patients on the liquor side and more 'n half on the other. It's as bad, or worse, with a lawyer."

"Can't you make a living here?"

"Not unless you call a thousand or two a year a living. My family 's entitled to what I can earn of the good things of life. I don't want to live in a town as full of hate as this will be for years to come. I want to go where I can get on and enjoy life. It's a bitter dose, all the same, to sell the house where my grandfather was born and where I hoped my grandchildren would be born and live and die; it 's bitter as death. But I'm glad I did what I did, for I believe it was my duty, and we might have won if it had n't been for that fool Harpswell."

"And I tell you," replied Craigin, "we can win now. I want you to promise me not to mail that letter for a week."

He went to his office, and, writing down thirty names, studied them with anxious care. One man was wanting in tact, another timid, another rash, and so on. He drew his pen through name after name, till the list was reduced to sixteen. Then he reversed the process and with still greater care sought among the sixteen for ten, each of whom had special qualifications and all of whom could work together as one person. Though they varied widely in tastes, attainments, and

social position, he believed they were the ten best men in Apsleigh for his purpose. He wrote to each, asking him to call at his office the following evening. Then he took a photograph from a private drawer, and, as he sat looking at it as upon the face of a loved one forever lost, memory went back to the dream of two years before: the yawning gulf, the shining one upon the farther brink, the armies closing in battle, Denman leading one, himself the other.

The ten came at the appointed time. Among them were those who had advised Strickland to resign. All were disheartened.

"How would it do to look at the enemy's troubles as well as our own?" inquired Craigin. "All the liquor-dealers but Denman have sentences hanging over them and can be shut up for six months at a moment's notice. Denman himself has been driven out of the business. It's a good beginning."

"A good beginning!" exclaimed one of the gentle"Do you call what we 've gone through only the beginning?"

men.

"Yes. We've had the prostration of business, the reign of terror, the agony and hate; now comes the steady march to victory."

"To victory!" cried several at once.

room.

"As surely as God reigns-if we rise to our opportunities. We've got rid of the saloon and the barWe must get rid of the sneak-holes and the pocket-bottle trade. Denman's influence used to be against these things; now the more drunkenness and rowdyism, the stronger his argument that prohibition can't prohibit and nothing but license can regulate. Public opinion will sustain us in this, and Denman