upon an angry and wriggling little man who screamed to high heaven that
he hadn't done nothing, and dropped him out of the open window, which
was just five feet above the ground.
It was rather a clean-cut piece of work, the moral effect of which was
in no wise weakened by the strong probability that they had ejected the
wrong man. It proved the turning-point in the evening's proceedings.
Ryanism seemed paralyzed by the mysterious absence of its chief, and a
few further essays by the faithful, more and more half-hearted in their
nature, made it plain that the control of that meeting had passed into
other hands. Peter, apologizing for the little interruption, told simply
but vividly how, coming to Hunston a stranger, he had instantly seen
that something was badly wrong with the town: how he had looked about at
the dirty streets, the dead business, the empty stores, the good men
idling, the good wives suffering for the money that streamed into the
big red saloon--
"That's right!" called a shrill, scared woman's voice. "That's right,
Mister!"
"No!" Peter answered steadily. "It's the _wrongest_ thing that ever
was--God help you poor women!"
Then a burst of hand-clapping, unforced by the faithful hirelings from
New York, ran unexpectedly through the house.
Peter told how easy it had been to find out what was choking the life
out of Hunston. His open countenance, democratic manners, and pungent
speech produced a most favorable impression, and it was undeniable that,
for the moment at least, he had the house with him when he swung into
his peroration.
"You know we are told," he said, "that it is the truth that makes us
free. Well, you are going to hear the truth to-night, at last. There is
a man listening to me at this moment who knows everything there is to be
known. Like me, he has no axe to grind, no special interest to promote,
no ambition but the manly wish to loose this town from the bonds with
which a dishonest boss has shackled it. He has sacrificed much to the
hope that he might help you, and for months he has been fighting against
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