o, and
they've been plotting mysteriously. Well, I suppose there will be trouble
over it; but who is this Marvin?"

"She's a rising religious reformer who has taken several towns on Puget
Sound by storm," said the surveyor, "and it has cost somebody considerable
to bring her here. That _protege_ of yours is clearly a crank, but he's
also more of a man than he looks, and, if it can be done unofficially, I'm
inclined to back him. No, I'm not a teetotaler, and as a rule we're a
sober people in Western Canada, but they're a tolerably hard crowd down
at Cedar, and if once the man who runs the Magnolia takes hold with his
tables we'll have chaos in this camp. I'm not prejudiced, but if they must
have excitement I'd sooner see the boys whooping round a temperance
meeting than a gaming bank."

"Are you going, Ralph?" asked Harry. "I'm not altogether fond of the man,
but in a measure we are responsible for him."

I did not answer at first as I looked down upon the roofs of Cedar
Crossing. The old trail, which would be useless presently, came winding
down through the passes into it, and I knew that while the average British
Columbian is a sturdy law-abiding citizen, a love of excitement
characterizes the miner, and after being driven out of the central town
site by an energetic reform committee, a few adventurers of both sexes and
indifferent morals had foregathered at Cedar Crossing, with the Magnolia
saloon as headquarters.

Then I said, "Yes, I'm going"; and, as he departed, the surveyor observed
dryly:

"I'd take along a few picked men with axes. They might come in handy."

Bright starlight shone coldly on the dim white peaks when Harry and I
stumbled among the boulders by Cedar Lake, in whose clear depths it lay
reflected with a silvery glitter. But it was warm down in the valley, and
the drowsy breath of cedars filled the air, until a reek of kerosene
replaced it, and presently a ruddy glare broke out among the giant trunks.
When we halted under the blinking torches and two petroleum cressets
outside the Magnolia, it seemed as if all the staff of the railroad had
gathered there.

"They're both here," said Harry, and I saw Lee standing beside a slender
figure in unbecoming dress among a group of men in blue shirts and
quaintly mended jackets; also that some planks had been laid across two
barrels close by.

"Don't crowd upon the lady!" said a voice. "Order! the circus is going to
begin; we're only waiting for the c