The effect was immediate; and it was dramatic. It broke up the meeting. Indignation, moreover, ran so high that it came within an ace of producing a riot in the heart of the city. The friends of the U. P. candidate so deeply resented having such an important piece of their ordnance stolen and used against them, that some of the more turbulent spirits needed persuasion from the police to return quietly to their homes.
Next day the Blackhampton Mercury and other U. P. journals sternly demanded a public inquiry into the whole affair. None was needed really, for everybody knew the cause. All over the City it was said that "the Old Man had got at" the electricians, the chief constable and the city engineer. In the statelier words of the Planet newspaper, "Such an episode reflected the deepest discredit upon the city of Blackhampton." All the same, it was a coup. The enemy's Long Tom had been audaciously taken from under its nose. It was now being used with deadly effect by the other side.
An attempt was made to bring to book the culprit-in-chief, but it was not successful. Such a bird was too old to be caught napping. And for some mysterious reason the efforts that were made to repair the mischief fared no better. In spite of every precaution, the electric current of "Endor Must Go" failed night after night, while neither the British climate nor untoward circumstance was allowed to interfere with the opposition sky sign "John Endor is Jannock."
