Page:The traitor; a story of the fall of the invisible empire (IA traitorstoryoffa00dixo).pdf/113

 got you now, just where I want you. Five minutes more of that Convention and you'll be a memory as a politician. You never had a principle in your life. A professed leader of the Republican party in the South composed of Negroes, you loathe the very sight of a Negro. You profess to be a Southerner, yet your ear is always to the ground to hear the slightest whisper from the lowest breed of Yankee demagogues in the North. You lie to the Negro, you lie to the Southern white man, you lie to the Yankee. You're a pusillanimous, office-seeking turncoat beneath the contempt of a man. Why did you send for me?"

"To tell you that it's time for you to move on, sit!" cried Butler with spluttering rage. "You Carpetbag vultures have winged your way into the South to tear from the loyal men of native birth the rewards of their long patriotic services. Go back to the slums and prison pens of the North where you belong!"

"What do you mean?" Larkin broke in with sudden energy.

"That you are a criminal adventurer, sir; that's what I mean!"

Larkin laughed again.

"Is that all?"

"And I have in my pocket the documents to