irsty for excitement, and with
memories of Winter quarrels inciting them to "have it out of someone."

And it was in October, when the shantyman was passing through on his way
to the woods--a natural revolutionary, loving trouble as a coyote loves
his hole--that labour discontent was practically whipped into action,
and the Councils of the two towns were stung into bitterness against the
new provocative railway policy. Things looked dark enough. The trouble
between the two towns and the change of control and policy of the
railways, due to Ingolby's downfall, had greatly shaken land and
building values in Lebanon, and a black eye, as it were, had been given
to the whole district for the moment.

So serious had the situation been regarded that the Mayor of Lebanon,
with Halliday the lawyer and another notable citizen, all friends of
Ingolby, had "gone East"--as a journey to Montreal, Toronto, or Quebec
was generally called--to confer with and make appeal to the directorate
of the great railways. They went with some elation and hope, for they
had arguments of an unexpected kind in their possession, carefully
hidden from the rest of the population. They had returned only the day
before the meeting which was to be held in the square in front of the
Town Hall, to find that a platform had been built at the very steps of
the Town Hall with the assent of the Chief Constable, now recovered from
illness and returned to duty. To the Deputy Mayor and the Council, the
Chief Constable, on the advice of Gabriel Druse, had said that it was
far better to have the meeting in front of the Town Hall where he could,
on the instant, summon special constables from within if necessary,
while the influence of a well-built platform and the orderly arrangement
of a regular meeting were better than a mob oration from the tops of
ash-barrels.

The signs were ominous. In a day of sunshine the rebellious and
discontented spirit does not thrive; on a wet day it is apt to take
shelter; on a bleak, grey day men are prone to huddle together in their
anger with consequent stimulation of their passions.

It was a grey enough day at Lebanon, and dark-faced visitors from
Manitou felt the need of Winter clothing as they shiveringly crossed the
Sagalac by Ingolby's bridge. The air was raw and searching; Nature was
sulky. In the sharp wind the trees shook themselves angrily free of
leaves. The taverns were greatly frequented, which was not good for
Manitou a