show--declined the invitation on account of lack of time, and then
yesterday comes a telegram saying the Prince himself insisted on
stopping. You know he's keen about Indian dope--and we've got Indian
traditions to burn. So Mr. Bill Patton had to make over his schedule
to please the Prince, and of course we were all pretty tickled about
it, for more reasons than one. The telegram didn't come until five
o'clock yesterday afternoon, but you know what a hummer the Governor
is when he gets a start. He made up his mind this building should be
put in shape within twenty-four hours. They engaged a whole lot of
fellows to work on the carpets to-day. Then what did they do but get
together last night--well, you know the rest. Pretty bum-looking old
shack just now, isn't it?" and the reporter looked around ruefully.

It was approaching the hour for the legislature to convene, and the
members who were beginning to saunter in swelled the crowd--and the
indignation--in the rotunda.

The Governor, meanwhile, had been trying to get other men, but
Carpet-Tackers' Union Number One had looked well to that. The
biggest furniture dealer in the city was afraid of the plumbers.
"Pipes burst last night," he said, "and they may not do a thing for
us if we get mixed up in this. Sorry--but I can't let my customers
get pneumonia."

Another furniture man was afraid of the teamsters. For one reason or
another no one was disposed to respond to the Macedonian cry, and
when the Governor at last gave it up and walked out into the rotunda
he was about as disturbed as he permitted himself to get. "It's the
idea of lying down," he said. "I'd do anything--anything!--if I
could only think what to do."