“I should think so—and the most commanding.”
“You have named the word. Think of it.
I frown, and there is war; I smile, and contending
nations lay down their arms.”
“It is awful. The responsibility, I mean.”
“It is nothing. Responsibility is no burden
to me; I am used to it; have always been used to it.”
“And the work—the work! Do
you have to attend all the sittings?”
“Who, I? Does the Emperor of Russia attend
the conclaves of the governors of the provinces?
He sits at home, and indicates his pleasure.”
Washington was silent a moment, then a deep sigh escaped
him.
“How proud I was an hour ago; how paltry seems
my little promotion now! Colonel, the reason
I came to Washington is,—I am Congressional
Delegate from Cherokee Strip!”
The Colonel sprang to his feet and broke out with
prodigious enthusiasm:
“Give me your hand, my boy—this is
immense news! I congratulate you with all my
heart. My prophecies stand confirmed. I
always said it was in you. I always said you
were born for high distinction and would achieve it.
You ask Polly if I didn’t.”
Washington was dazed by this most unexpected demonstration.
“Why, Colonel, there’s nothing to it.
That little narrow, desolate, unpeopled, oblong streak
of grass and gravel, lost in the remote wastes of
the vast continent—why, it’s like
representing a billiard table—a discarded
one.”
“Tut-tut, it’s a great, it’s a staving
preferment, and just opulent with influence here.”
“Shucks, Colonel, I haven’t even a vote.”
“That’s nothing; you can make speeches.”
“No, I can’t. The population’s
only two hundred—”
“That’s all right, that’s all right—”
“And they hadn’t any right to elect me;
we’re not even a territory, there’s no
Organic Act, the government hasn’t any official
knowledge of us whatever.”
“Never mind about that; I’ll fix that.
I’ll rush the thing through, I’ll get
you organized in no time.”
“Will you, Colonel?—it’s too
good of you; but it’s just your old sterling
self, the same old ever-faithful friend,” and
the grateful tears welled up in Washington’s
eyes.
“It’s just as good as done, my boy, just
as good as done. Shake hands. We’ll
hitch teams together, you and I, and we’ll make
things hum!”
Mrs. Sellers returned, now, with her composure restored,
and began to ask after Hawkins’s wife, and about
his children, and the number of them, and so on, and
her examination of the witness resulted in a circumstantial
history of the family’s ups and downs and driftings
to and fro in the far West during the previous fifteen
years. There was a message, now, from out back,
and Colonel Sellers went out there in answer to it.
Hawkins took this opportunity to ask how the world
had been using the Colonel during the past half-generation.
