The powerful Anaconda, that political dictator of a region so vast that it was washed by two oceans, was to champion Senator Hanway.
Senator Coot, whose home-State was shaky beneath his Senate feet, and who was therefore anxiously afraid lest he himself be committed to a position on the perilous subject of finance that might provoke his destruction, now addressed the table.

He yielded to no one in his admiration for Senator Hanway.

In view of what had been proposed, however, he, Senator Coot, would like to ask Senator Hanway to define his position in that controversy of Silver versus Gold.
No one was looking for this, no such baleful curiosity had been anticipated.

It was Senator Gruff that came to the rescue, and Richard, to whom the scene was new and full of interest, could not admire too deeply the dexterity wherewith he held the shield of his humor between Senator Hanway and the shaft of that interrogatory.
Senator Gruff thought the question premature.

The convention was months away; sentiment had been known to shift in a day like the bed of a river and seek new channels with its currents.