naterly--"

"Mr. David need never know about it. It is a subscription and you have
collected it--advertise that fact. I'm one of his friends and I can
subscribe even if I am white. You must take it, and get to work about it.
Only four more days, remember, and we all must work for Mr. David; and
too, Jeff, for those poor ignorant people who would commit the crime of
letting themselves sell their votes." There was real concern for the
endangered souls of the coons in Caroline's voice, and Jeff was duly
impressed.

They both fell to work on the packing of the basket as Temple's voice was
heard in the distance, for they knew she would express herself in no
uncertain terms if she found the amount of work done unsatisfactory.

But when he departed, Jeff carried in his pocket a slip of paper about
which it nearly scared him to death to think, and one of the money-bags
of the late Peters Brown was eased by the extraction of a quarter
thousand. Caroline was happy from a clear conscience and a virtuous
feeling of having saved a crisis for a dependent and ignorant people.
Which goes to show that a woman can put her finger into a political pie
and draw it out without even a stain, while to touch that same confection
ever so lightly would dye a man's hand blood red.




CHAPTER IX

PURSUING THE POSSUM