They understood all the hypocrisy of
this bland assertion, but protest amounted to nothing. The voters were
behind Sylvester. That gentleman promptly put in nomination the name of
Harlan Thornton for representative to the legislature from the Canibas
class of towns and plantations, and the choice was affirmed by a yell
that made the protesting chorus seem only a feeble chirp. And then the
caucus adjourned tumultuously.
Through it all Thelismer Thornton stood with shoulders against the
boarding, that quizzical half-smile on his face. He walked out of the
hall past the outraged Ivus Niles without losing that smile, though the
demagogue followed him to the door with frantic threats and taunts.
The meeting-house bell still chattered its alarm, an excited ringer
rolling the wheel over and over.
Chairman Presson, who had found speech inadequate for some time,
followed the Duke to the stairway outside, and stood beside him, gazing
up at the conflagration. Smoke masked the hills. Fire-flashes, pallid in
the afternoon light, shot up here and there in the yellow billows
rolling nearest the ground.
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