It was amazing the way the light broke in in the case of particular
individuals, often the most unlikely, and quelled their opposition.

Take, for example, the editor of the Newspacket. I suppose there
wasn't a greater temperance advocate in town. Yet Alphonse queered
him with an Omelette a la License in one meal.

Or take Pepperleigh himself, the judge of the Mariposa court. He was
put to the bad with a game pie,--pate normand aux fines herbes--the
real thing, as good as a trip to Paris in itself. After eating it,
Pepperleigh had the common sense to realize that it was sheer madness
to destroy a hotel that could cook a thing like that.

In the same way, the secretary of the School Board was silenced with
a stuffed duck a la Ossawippi.

Three members of the town council were converted with a Dindon farci
a la Josh Smith.

And then, finally, Mr. Diston persuaded Dean Drone to come, and as
soon as Mr. Smith and Alphonse saw him they landed him with a fried
flounder that even the apostles would have appreciated.

After that, every one knew that the license question was practically
settled. The petition was all over the town. It was printed in
duplicate at the Newspacket and you could see it lying on the counter
of every shop in Mariposa. Some of the people signed it twenty or
thirty times.