to send the boys I'll mention ahead up the
track, so they couldn't get back before evening, and give two of us a day
off, it would get over the difficulty."

When he heard the names the engineer looked hard at Kermode.

"Has this request any connection with the collapse of Mr. Ferguson's
church?"

"It has, indirectly. I'm sorry I can't give you an explanation."

"Try to understand how I'm situated. I may have my sympathies, but I
can't be a partizan; my business is to see you do your work. Suppose I do
as you suggest, will it make any trouble in the camp? I want a straight
answer."

"No," said Kermode. "I give you my word that what we mean to do will lead
to quietness and good order."

"Then I'll have the boys you mentioned sent up the track; they're a crowd
I've had my eye on. One of your friends and you can lie off."

Kermode thanked him and went back to the shack, where he kept watch with
the leader of the Presbyterians until two police troopers rode up late in
the afternoon. They opened the cases and heard Kermode's story.

"You declare the man Mitcham claimed this liquor as his property?"
Sergeant Inglis asked.

"He said he'd bought it. We're ready to swear to that, and we can give
you the names of several more who heard him."

"I'll take them down. Where's Mitcham?"

They told him and he closed his notebook.

"You may be sent for from Edmonton later. Don't let these cases out of
your sight until Private Cooper calls for them."

He went out and came back later with the trooper and a teamster they had
hired, who loaded the cases on a sled. Sergeant Inglis, however, sat
still in his saddle, with a watchful eye on Mitcham and another man who
stood, handcuffed, at his horse's side. When the police had ridden off
with their prisoners, Morgan, the engineer, sent for Kermode.

"I've seen the sergeant and he gave me an outline of the affair," he
said. "It was cleverly thought out--I suppose the idea was yours?"

"I can't deny it," returned Kermode modestly.

"Well," said the other, "see that your friends and you begin work as
usual to-morrow."

During the next two weeks Ferguson made some progress in repairing the
damage to his church. He found several helpers, now that his strongest
opponent had been removed. The weather, however, grew more severe and as
the frost interfered with operations, men were freely dismissed. One day
Morgan and the contractor's clerk sat talking in the latter's office.

"I'l