any eyes were dimmed with tears. The rough men listened
in rapt silence as the childish treble rang out:

"Darling, I am growing old;
Silver threads among the gold
Shine upon my brow to-day;
Life is fading fast away."

Then from behind the scenes a pure alto joined in and the two voices,
blending in exquisite harmony, went on:

"But, my darling, you will be, will be,
Always young and fair to me.
Yes, my darling, you will be
Always young and fair to me."

As the last echo died away the audience rose as one man, and a shower of
nuggets pelted on the stage. Here was something that touched their
hearts, stirred in them strange memories of tenderness, brought before
them half-forgotten scenes of fireside happiness.

"It's a shame to let that kid work in the halls," said Miss Labelle.
There were tears in her eyes, too, and she hurriedly blinked them away.

Then the curtain fell. Men were clearing the floor for the dance, so,
bidding the lady adieu, I went downstairs.

CHAPTER IV

I found the Youth awaiting me.

"Say, pardner," said he, "I was just getting a bit anxious about you. I
thought sure that fairy had you in tow for a sucker. I'm going to stay
right with you, and you're not going to shake me. See!"

"All right," I said; "come on and we'll watch the dance."

So we got in the front row of spectators, while behind us the crowd
packed as closely as matches in a box. The champagne I had taken had
again aroused in me that vivid sense of joy and strength and colour.
Again the lights were effulgent, the music witching, the women divine.
As I swayed a little I clutched unsteadily at the Youth. He looked at me
curiously.

"Brace up, old man," he said. "Guess you're not often in town. You're
not much used to the dance-hall racket."

"No," I assured him.

"Well," he continued, "it's the rottenest game ever. I've seen more poor
beggars put plumb out of business by the dance-halls than by all the
saloons and gambling-joints put together. It's the game of catching the
sucker brought to the point of perfection, and there's very few cases
where it fails."

He perceived I was listening earnestly, and he warmed up to his
subject.

"You see, the boys get in after they've been out on the claim for six
months at a stretch, and town looks mighty good to them. The music
sounds awful nice, and the women, well, they look just like angels. The
boys are all right, but they've got th