Page:The gold brick (1910).djvu/165

 *sett—he was prosecuting attorney then—asked, with a lawyer's passion for fine distinctions, in what sense the major employed the word "used." Before the major could reply—he had knit his brows and was whittling a fresh chew from his plug, to irrigate his thought—old Bill Williams said:

"No, that won't do; we must use it to get out the vote."

"Well," said Bassett, who always annoyed the old fellows with his young haggling, "how'll you get out the vote?"

The auditor, with an effort at something definite, said:

"Why, we must have organization—that's what wins in elections these days." He shook his head, in a keen triumph, for the phrase pleased him, as phrases do please politicians. He began to conceive himself—gladly, as a great political leader, as an organizer of victory. "Organization, that's the word," he persisted, and then, growing bolder, he brought his fist down on his fat knee, and plunged on heedlessly into detail.

"You just give me that fund," he said, "and I'll—I'll show you," he brought up lamely.