e room they had left. When he seemed slightly better, Thurston said:

"I am going, sir. Stay here a few minutes, and then call somebody,
waiter. I cannot stay any longer."

Savine made an approving gesture, but Helen said with fear and evident
surprise, "You will not leave us now, Mr. Thurston?"

"I must," answered Geoffrey, restraining an intense longing to stay
since she desired it, but loyal to his master's charge. "I believe
your father is recovering, and it is his especial wish. I can do
nothing, and he needs only quiet."

Helen said nothing further. She began to chafe her father's hand,
while Thurston went back, pale and grim, to the head of the long table.

"Mr. Savine was seized by a passing faintness, but is recovering," he
said. "Nevertheless, he may not be able to return, and, as I am
interested with him in the drainage scheme he has appointed me his
deputy. Therefore, in brief answer to your questions, I would say that
if either of us lives you shall have good oat fields instead of swamp
grass and muskeg. It is a solemn promise--we intend to redeem it."

"I want to ask just two questions," announced a sun-bronzed man, in
picturesque jacket of fringed deerskin. "Who are the--we; and how are
you going to build dykes strong enough to stand the river when the
lake's full of melting snow and sends the water down roaring under a
twenty-foot head?"

The speaker had touched the one weak spot in Savine's scheme, but
Geoffrey rose to the occasion, and there was a wondering hush when he
said, "In answer to the first question--Julius Savine and I are the
'we.' Secondly, we will, if necessary, obliterate the lake. It can be
done."

The boldness of the answer from a comparatively unknown man held the
listeners still, until there were further questions and finally, amid
acclamation, one of the party said:

"Then it's a bargain, and we'll back you solid through thick and thin.
Isn't that so, gentlemen? If the opposition try to make legal trouble,
as the holders of the cleared land likely to be affected we've got the
strongest pull. We came here doubting; you have convinced us."

"I hardly think you will regret it," Geoffrey assured them. "Now, as I
must see to Mr. Savine, you will excuse me."

Savine lay breathing heavily when Geoffrey rejoined him, but he
demanded what had happened, and nodded approval when told. Then
Geoffrey withdrew, beckoning to Helen, who rose and followed him.

"This is