me importance
in Victoria--Government men among others--and you'll go down there and
live as you would have done in England just as long as appears
advisable while you try to put the project through. It is quite
evident that you will have to get one of the land exploitation
concerns to back you, and no doubt a charter or concession of some
kind will have to be obtained from the Crown authorities. The time you
spend over the thing in Victoria should make it clear where your
capacities lie--if it's handling matters of this kind in the cities,
or leading your workmen in the Bush. I purpose to take a share in your
venture, and I'm offering you an opportunity of making sure which is
the kind of life you're most fitted for."

"I guess you ought to go," remarked Gordon quietly.

Nasmyth smiled. "That," he agreed, "is my own opinion."

"Then we'll consider it as decided," said Wisbech. "It seems to me I
could spend a month or two in this province very satisfactorily, and
we'll go down to Victoria together, as soon as you have carried out
this timber-cutting contract."

They talked of other matters, while now and then men from the railroad
gang dropped in and made themselves pleasant to the stranger. It must
be admitted that there are one or two kinds of wandering Englishmen,
who would not have found them particularly friendly, but the little
quiet man with the twinkling eyes was very much at home with them. He
had been endued with the gift of comprehension, and rock-cutter and
axeman opened their minds to him. In fact, he declared his full
satisfaction with the entertainment afforded him before he lay down
upon his bed of springy spruce twigs.

CHAPTER XIV

IN THE MOONLIGHT

There was a full moon in the clear blue heavens, and its silvery light
streamed into the pillared veranda where Nasmyth sat, cigar in hand,
on the seaward front of James Acton's house, which stood about an
hour's ride from Victoria on the Dunsmer railroad. Like many other
successful men in that country, Acton had begun life in a three-roomed
shanty, and now, when, at the age of fifty, he was in possession of a
comfortable competence, he would have been well content to retire to
his native settlement in the wilderness. There was, however, the
difficulty that the first suggestion of such a course would have been
vetoed by his wife, who was an ambitious woman, younger than he, and,
as a rule, at least, Acton submitted to her good-humouredly. T