nd grew firm and
commanding. "I won't take you," he said, "and that's all there is
about it. This is a job for grown-up men and men with all their wits
about them. You would faint at the sight of blood and cry when you saw
the first dead man."

In a few weeks another recruiting meeting was held, and again Stanley
presented himself when the first invitation was given. The recruiting
officer remembered him, and rather impatiently told him to sit down.
Near the front of the hall sat the German-American storekeeper of the
neighboring town, who had come to the meeting to see what was going
on, and had been interrupting the speaker with many rude remarks; and
when Stanley, in his immaculate suit of gray check, his gray spats,
and his eyeglass, passed by where he was sitting, it seemed as if all
his slumbering hatred for England burst at once into flame!

"My word!" he mimicked, "'ere's a rum 'un--somebody should warn the
Kaiser! It's not fair to take the poor man unawares--here is some of
the real old English fighting-stock."

Stanley turned in surprise and looked his tormentor in the face. His
look of insipid good-nature lured the German on.

"That is what is wrong with the British Empire," he jeered; "there are
too many of these underbred aristocrats, all pedigree and no brains,
like the long-nosed collies. God help them when they meet the
Germans--that is all I have to say!"

He was quite right in his last sentence--that was all he had to say.
It was his last word for the evening, and it looked as if it might be
his last word for an indefinite time, for the unexpected happened.

Psychologists can perhaps explain it. We cannot. Stanley, who like
charity had borne all things, endured all things, believed all things,
suddenly became a new creature, a creature of rage, blind, consuming,
terrible! You have heard of the worm turning? This was a case of a
worm turning into a tank!

People who were there said that Stanley seemed to grow taller, his
eyes glowed, his chin grew firm, his shoulders ceased to be
apologetic. He whirled upon the German and landed a blow on his jaw
that sounded like a blow-out! Before any one could speak, it was
followed by another and the German lay on the floor!

Then Stanley turned to the astonished audience and delivered the most
successful recruiting speech that had ever been given in the Pembina
Valley.

"You have sat here all evening," he cried, "and have listened to this
miserable houn