e of us," he announced.

A reassuring murmur ran along the double row of men, and Nasmyth felt
a thrill of exultation.

"Thank you, boys," he said with evident gratitude. "Now, there are
difficulties to be grappled with. To begin with, the Crown authorities
would sooner have leased the valley to me, and it was some time before
they decided that as a special concession they would sell it in six
hundred and forty acre lots at the lowest figure for first-class
lands. The lots are to be laid off in rectangular blocks, and as the
valley is narrow and winding, that takes in a proportion of heavy
timber on the hill bench, and will not include quite a strip of
natural prairie, which remains with the Crown. The cost of the land
alone runs close on twenty thousand dollars, of which, one way or
another, I can raise about eight thousand."

He looked at Wheeler, who sat near the lower end of the table, and he
nodded.

"My offer stands," he said.

"You want another twelve thousand dollars," said the hotel-keeper
dubiously. "It's quite a pile of money."

There was a little laughter from the men. "Well," said one of them, "I
guess we can raise it somehow among us, but it's going to be a pull."

"Then," said Nasmyth, "we have provided for the cost of the land, but
before we lower the fall and cut the drainage trenches in the valley
we will run up a big bill--that is, if we hire hands. My notion is
that we undertake the work ourselves, and credit every man with his
share in it to count as a mortgage on the whole land that belongs to
us."

Waynefleet stood up and waved his hand. "I want to point out that this
is very vague," he objected. "The question will arise where the labour
is to be applied. It would, for instance, be scarcely judicious to
give a man a claim on everybody else for draining his own land."

He would have said more, but that Tom of Mattawa laid a hard hand on
his shoulder and jerked him back into his chair.

"Now," Tom admonished, "you just sit down. When Nasmyth takes this
thing in hand he'll put it through quite straight. What you'd do in a
month wouldn't count for five dollars, anyway."

Everybody laughed, and Wheeler spoke again. "We'll get over that
trouble by cutting so many big trenches only for the general benefit.
In the meanwhile Mr. Nasmyth said something about trustees."

"I did," said Nasmyth. "The Crown will sell in rectangular six hundred
and forty acre blocks. My proposition is that we take