do know that when we won out three
members of parliament and half a dozen other politicians were honorary
members of our organization, and that it cost Brokaw a hundred thousand
dollars! Our opponents had raised such a howl, calling upon the
patriotism of the country and pointing out that the people of the north
would resent this invasion of foreigners, that we succeeded in getting
only a provisional license, subject to withdrawal by the government at
any time conditions seemed to warrant it. I saw in this no blow to my
scheme, for I was certain that we could carry the thing along on such a
square basis that within a year the whole country would be in sympathy
with us. I expressed my views with enthusiasm at our final meeting,
when the seven of us met to complete our plans. Brokaw and the other
five were to direct matters in the south; I was to have full command of
affairs in the north. A month later I was at work. Over here"--he
leaned over Gregson's shoulder and placed a forefinger on the map--"I
established our headquarters, with MacDougall, a Scotch engineer, to
help me. Within six months we had a hundred and fifty men at Blind
Indian Lake, fifty canoemen bringing in supplies, and another gang
putting in stations over a stretch of more than a hundred miles of lake
country. Everything was working smoothly, better than I had expected.
At Blind Indian Lake we had a shipyard, two warehouses, ice-houses, a
company store, and a population of three hundred, and had nearly
completed a ten-mile roadbed for narrow-gauge steel, which would
connect us with the main line when it came up to us. I was completely
lost in my work. At times I almost forgot Brokaw and the others. I was
particularly careful of the funds sent up to me, and had accomplished
my work at a cost of a little under a hundred thousand. At the end of
the six months, when I was about to make a visit into the south, one of
our warehouses and ten thousand dollars' worth of supplies went up in
smoke. It was our first misfortune, and it was a big one. It was about
the first matter that I brought up after I had shaken hands with
Brokaw."

Philip's face was set and white as he stood in the middle of the room
looking at Gregson.

"And what do you think was his reply, Greggy? He looked at me for a
moment, a peculiar twitching around the corners of his mouth, and then
said, 'Don't allow a trivial matter like that to worry you, Philip.
Why--we've already cleaned up a mi