sir. When shall I begin?”
The chairman consulted his calendar.
“Suppose you hold yourself in readiness for one week from today.”
“All right,” and Bles rose. “Good day, gentlemen.”
But the chairman was still puzzled.
“Now, what’s his game?” he asked helplessly.
“He may be honest,” offered Senator Smith, contemplating the door almost wistfully.
The campaign progressed. The National Republican Committee said little about the Negro revolt and affected to ignore it. The papers were silent.
Underneath this calm, however, the activity was redoubled. The prominent Negroes were carefully catalogued, written to, and put under personal influence. The Negro papers were quietly subsidized, and they began to ridicule and reproach the new leaders.
As the Fall progressed, mass-meetings were held in Washington and the small towns. Larger and larger ones were projected, and more and more Alwyn was pushed to the front. He was developing into a most effective speaker. He had the voice, the presence, the ideas, and above all he was intensely in earnest. There were other colored orators with voice, presence, and eloquence; but their people knew their record and discounted them. Alwyn was new, clear, and sincere, and the black folk hung on his words. Large and larger crowds greeted him until he was the central figure in a half dozen great negro mass-meetings in the chief cities of the country, culminating in New York the night before election. Perhaps