nographs and eulogies exist, bound in leather and stamped in gold, each lauding its own hero: chronicles written in really beautiful language, and high-minde

, in the midst of all that gore and slaughter, and emerge

ere magnis, out of the cloud-wrapped conflicts of the five railroads of which our own Gaul is composed, emerged one imperial railroad, authentically and legally writte

ul, too, of tiring our readers, we would write out all the legends we hav

the very year at which we have now arrived in our story. We do not intend to give a map of the state, or discuss the merits or demerits of the consolidation of the Central and the Northwestern and the Truro railroads. Such discussions are not the province of a novelist, and may all be found in th

another road which ran northward from Harwich through another state, and with which we have nothing to do. Having previously purchased a line to the southward from the capital, Mr. Worthington's railroad was in a position to compete with Mr. Duncan's (the "Central") for Canadian traffic, and also to cut into the profits of the "Northwestern," Mr. Lovejoy's road. In brief, the Truro Railroad found itself ve

will sit on the sunny side of his barns in Clovelly and tell you stories of that golden period with tears in his eyes, when he went to conventions with a pocketful of proxies from the river towns, and controlled in the greatest legislative year of all a "block" which included the President of the Se

htly deemed that the other railroads of the state would eventually fall like ripe fruit into their caps-owning the ground under the tree, as they would. A movement, which we need not go unto, was first made upon the courts, and for a while adverse decisions came down like summer rain. A genius by the name of Jethro Bass

orth, well quartered and well fed; the Throne Room, within the sacred precincts of which we have been before, is occupied. But there is another headquarters now, too, in the Pelican House-a Railroad Room; larger than the Throne Room, with a bath-room leading out of it. Another old friend of ours, Judge Abner Par

r. Bijah Bixby, pro tem chief of staff-or of the hammer, for he is self-appointed and very useful. He opens the mysterious packing cases which come up to the Railroad Room thrice a week, and there is water to be had in the bath-room-and glasses. Mr. Bixby also finds time to do some of the scouting about the rotunda and lobbies, for which he is justly celebrated, and to drill his regiment every day. The Honorable Heth Sutton, M.C.,-who held the bridge in the Woodchuck Session,-i

f power deserted, and does Jethro Bass sit there alone behind the curta

rge of their armies in the field-sums, at least, that would seem fabulous to many people, and had seemed so to them. When they heard that the lion had roused and shaken himself and had unaccountably come forth of his own accord, they hastened to the state capital to renew their offers. Another shock, but of a different kind, was in store for them. Mr. Balch had not actually driven the pack-mules, laden with treasure, to the door of the Pelican House, where Jethro might

ndertake this fight agai

e ready to talk b

do," answered Jethro; "I'm going t

s reply as one of Jethro's delicate euphemisms. "

he table and seized a pen and filled out a

bearer, as usual," he said,

pieces on the floor. Mr. Balch watched him in consternation. He began t

are you doing,

consolidation, don't

ainly

ll you can to st

ainly

lp you," s

h. "Great Scott, we want

won't guarantee it-w-won't

If you'll do all you can, that's

e anything,"

thing for your for your time and yo

both of us. You don't want consolidation, and I don

his check-book. The captains over the tens and the captains over the hundreds would w

fice in the depot-hain't

es

hev b'en there bef

ntable change of heart of Jethro Bass. He did not know what to make of it, and told his colleagues so; and at first they feared one of two things,-treachery or lunacy. But a little later a rumor reached Mr. Balch's ears that Jethro's hatred of Isaac D. Worthington was at the bottom of his reappearance

ere spoils to be picked up in the very streets richer than the sack of the thirty cities; and as the session wore on it is affirmed by men still living that money rained down in the Capitol Park and elsewhere like manna from the skies, if you were one of a chosen band. If you were, all you had to do was to look in your vest pockets when you took your clothes off in the evening and extract enough legal tender to pay your bill at the Pelican for a week. Mr. Lovejoy having been overheard one day to make a remark concern

sat behind the curtains, and he mus

return, with interest, the attacks of Mr. Worthington's organ, the Newcastle Guardian. These amenities are much too personal to reproduce here, now that the smoke of battle has rolled away. An epic could be written upon the conflict, if there were space: Canto One, the first position carried triumphantly, though at some expense, by the Worthington forces, who elect the Speaker

them). Judge Abner Parkinson defends his bill, quoting from the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and the Bible; a celebrated lawyer from the capital riddles it, using the same authorities, and citing the Federalist and the Golden Rule in addition. The Committee sit open-min

d sometimes he has a beautiful young woman (still unattached) by his side. He lives in a suite of rooms at the Pelican. It is a well-known fact (among Mr. Worthington's supporters) that the Honorable Alva promised in January, when Mr. Bass retired, to sign the Consolidation Bill, and that he suddenly became op

ing for contempt. As he sits in his window day after day he has only one thought and one wish,-to ruin Isaac D. Worthington. And he will do it if he can. Those who know-and among them is Mr. Balch himself-say that Jethro has never conducted a more masterly campaign than this, and that all the others have been mere childish trials of strength compar

posal of either army-for a price, a regiment which has hitherto remained strictly neutral. And what a regiment it is! A block of river towns and a senator, and not a

, that's all there is to it!" (Mr. Batch referred to the captain in question.) "They'll buy up his blo

if you've a

ness. Which side are you on, anyway?" The heat and the length and the uncertainty of the struggle were telling on the nerves of the railroad pres

ou to buy anyth

ou haven't. I don't know wha

n' without consultin

What are you

hadn't b'en here

re too," sai

difference to you if I

ied the railroad president, in genuine alar

much odds if I

and Gosport, and nobody can tell which way Alva Hopkins will swing. I guess you know what he'll do-you're

any obligations

but I don't see why you

t clear," said Jethro, a

ive. In short, at the very moment when Mr. Batch stamped on his cigar, Jethro had the victory in his hands-only he did not choose to say so. He had had a mysterious telegram that day from Harwich, signed by Chauncey Weed, and Mr. Weed himself appeared at the door of Number 7, fresh from his travels, shortly after Mr. Batch had gon

had gone home to Clovelly. The second; that Mr. Bijah Bixby had resigned the claw-hammer and had ceased to open the packing cases in the Railroad Room. Consternation reigned in that room, so it wa

membered that a good captain of mercenaries owes a sacred duty to his followers. At first Mr. Flint had thought he could count on Mr. Bixby; after a while he made several unsuccessful attempts to talk business with him; a particularly difficult thing to do, even for Mr. Flint, when Mr. Bixby did not wish to talk business. Mr. Balch had found it quite as difficult to entice

once in his life, h

to the Throne Room after supper to question Jethro concerning the meaning of the things he had heard, h

out of my hand,"

emanded

nswered t

road president. He felt as if he would like to shake the senator, who

ppeared shocked

on will settle w

hy the-why shou

ame out of that little shampoo closet; went in there and found Bije. 'Peleg,' says he, right into my ear, 'tell Jethro it's all right-you understand. We want Heth to go back-break his heart if he didn't-you understand. If I'd knowed last winte

d Mr. Balch, staring at Je

ugh the deestrict,"

hat autumn, and a large part of Mr. Sutton's district lay in the North Country, which, as we have seen, was loyal to Jethro to the back bone. The district, too, was largely rural, and therefore anti-consolidation, and the inability of the Worthington forces to get their bill through had made it apparent that Jethro Bass was as powerful as ever. Under these circumstances it had not been v

would never get beyond that committee who had listened so patiently to the twelve weeks of argument. These were only rumors, after all, for the rotunda never knows positively what goes on in high circles;