a man approached the tent.

"There's a curious critter hunting round for you," he said, "looks most
like a low-down played-out Britisher. He's wanting Contractor Lorimer, and
won't lie down until he finds him."

"Adam Lee of Stoney Clough for a dollar; I've been expecting him," said
Harry, with a low whistle. "You needn't go, surveyor. Have you been
fascinating any more young damsels, Ralph? Larry, will you be kind enough
to show his reverence in."

The man grinned as he went out, and presently Lee stood before us. He
looked a little stronger than when I last saw him, but there was trouble
in his face, and, when I explained to the rest who he was, he sat down and
commenced his story. Life is generally hard to such as he, and living
close packed together in the hive of a swarming town, with their few joys
and many sorrows open for every eye to see, they lose the grace of
reticence.

"I set up a stitching shop in a shed against Tom Fletcher's house," he
said. "There were none of my kin left in the wide world but Minnie, and,
if I wasn't a burden, I wanted to live near her. They brought me saddles
and harness to sew, and I earned a little, but I was main anxious for
Thomas Fletcher. The lust of strong drink was in him, and he had sinful
fits of temper, raging like one demented when I told him to cast out the
devil. 'I'll cast out thee an' thy preaching into perdition,' he said.
Then Minnie must tell me if I was too good for her husband, and only
making trouble, they did not want me there, and I saw that sometimes Tom
Fletcher scowled with angry eyes at her after I had spoken to him
faithfully. So, because it is an ill thing to cause strife between man and
wife, I left my daughter--and I had come half across the world to find
her. They told me there were lots of men and horses working on the new
railway, and I wondered if there was anything I could do that would keep
me. They said Ralph Lorimer was a big contractor--an' there was doubt
between us, but I have forgiven thee."

"Very kind of you, I'm sure!" said Harry. "The question is, however, what
can you do?" and the old man answered eagerly:

"Anything, if it's saddles or harness or mending shoes. I can cut things
in hardwood and sharpen saws too, and I'll work for a trial for nothing
but my keep."

I looked down at him compassionately, for he was old and broken in spirit,
and would plainly starve if turned adrift on the prairie, while as I did
so the surveyor br