right!"




CHAPTER X

A POLITICAL CONVERT


For two days Harlan Thornton rode about over the Fort Canibas district.
He talked to men at their doors, in their shops, over the fences of
their fields. He knew that some sneered at him behind his back. Some
even dared to arraign him, boldly and angrily, and flung his motives in
his face, accusing the grandfather of inciting the grandson to this
attempt to catch votes.

He realized that most of the voters did not understand him aright. They
did not understand sincerity in politics. But his own consciousness of
rectitude supplied his consolation and provided his impetus. Till then
he had employed the Thornton grit only in his business efforts; he
employed it now with just as much vigor in his proselyting. Once in the
fight, he was awake to what it meant. His frank earnestness impressed
those with whom he talked. He did not lose his temper, when men assailed
him and tried to discredit his protestations. Here and there, in
neighborhoods, knots of farmers gathered about him and listened. He
began to win his way, and he knew it. The knowledge that Harlan Thornton
was a square man in business needed no herald in that section.

That this integrity would extend to his politics grew into belief more