rious passengers who poured from the
cars, he saw a lake running back into the woods. A tall water-tank
stood on the margin with a shanty, in which George imagined a telegraph
operator was stationed, at its foot. Ahead, the great locomotive was
pouring out a cloud of sooty smoke. When George reached it he waited
until the engineer had finished talking to a man on the line.

"What are we stopping for? Has anything gone wrong?" he asked.

"Freight locomotive jumped the track at a wash-out some miles ahead,"
explained the engineer. "Took the fireman with her; but I don't know
much about it yet. Guess they'll want me soon."

George got the man to promise to take him, and then he went back until
he met Edgar, to whom he related what he had heard.

"I'm not astonished," remarked the lad, indicating one of the sleepers.
"Look at that--the rail's only held down by a spike or two; we fasten
them in solid chairs. They're rough and ready in this country."

It was the characteristic hypercritical attitude of the newly-arrived
Englishman; and George, knowing that the Canadians strongly resent it,
noticed a look of interest in the eyes of a girl standing near them.
She was, he imagined, about twenty-four years of age, and was dressed
in some thin white material, the narrow skirt scarcely reaching to the
tops of her remarkably neat shoes. Her arms were uncovered to the
elbows; her neck was bare, but this displayed a beautiful skin; and the
face beneath the turned-down brim of the big hat was attractive.
George thought she was amused at Edgar's comment.

"Well," he said, "while we put down a few miles of metals they'd drive
the track across leagues of new country and make a start with the
traffic. They haven't time to be particular, with the great western
wheat-land waiting for development."

The girl moved away; and when word went around that there would be a
delay of several hours, George sat down beside the lake and watched the
Colonist passengers wash their children's clothes. It was, he thought,
rather a striking scene--the great train standing in the rugged
wilderness, the wide stretch of gleaming water running back among the
firs, and the swarm of jaded immigrants splashing bare-footed along the
beach. Their harsh voices and hoarse laughter broke discordantly on
the silence of the woods.

After a while an elderly man, in badly-fitting clothes and an old
wide-brimmed hat, sauntered up with the girl George had n