It had been hinted previously along the border that the
six-foot scion of the Thorntons was a handy man in a scrap, but now his
prowess was surely established. MacCracken went about, a living
advertisement of how effectually righteous anger can back up two good
fists.
Therefore, respect attended on good-humor and went with, or ahead of,
the candidate.
He wondered at himself sometimes. He hardly understood the zeal that now
animated him, so sudden a convert. But the zest of youth was in him; the
spirit of the toil of the big woods, of the race with drought when the
drives are going down, the everlasting struggle with nature's forces,
the rivalry between man and man where accomplishment that bulks large in
the eyes of men is the only accomplishment that counts--all these
spurred him to make good, now that he had begun. In the open arena of
life his training had been that of man to man, and the best man taking
the prize. And his reading during the long evenings had been more in the
way of education in public matters than he had realized.
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