; settle it, if you
want to, somewhere else.' I turned, and was amazed to see old man
Nelson, who was very seldom moved to speech.

There was a look of scorn on his hard, iron-grey face, and of such
settled fierceness as made me quite believe the tales I had heard of his
deadly fights in the mines at the coast. Before any reply could be
made, the minister drove up and called out in a cheery voice, 'Merry
Christmas, boys! Hello, Sandy! Comment ca va, Baptiste? How do you do,
Mr. Graeme?'

'First rate. Let me introduce my friend, Mr. Connor, sometime medical
student, now artist, hunter, and tramp at large, but not a bad sort.'

'A man to be envied,' said the minister, smiling. 'I am glad to know any
friend of Mr. Graeme's.'

I liked Mr. Craig from the first. He had good eyes that looked straight
out at you, a clean-cut, strong face well set on his shoulders, and
altogether an upstanding, manly bearing. He insisted on going with Sandy
to the stables to see Dandy, his broncho, put up.

'Decent fellow,' said Graeme; 'but though he is good enough to his
broncho, it is Sandy that's in his mind now.'

'Does he come out often? I mean, are you part of his parish, so to
speak?'

'I have no doubt he thinks so; and I'm blowed if he doesn't make the
Presbyterians of us think so too.' And he added after a pause, 'A dandy
lot of parishioners we are for any man. There's Sandy, now, he would
knock Keefe's head off as a kind of religious exercise; but to-morrow
Keefe will be sober, and Sandy will be drunk as a lord, and the drunker
he is the better Presbyterian he'll be; to the preacher's disgust.' Then
after another pause he added bitterly, 'But it is not for me to throw
rocks at Sandy; I am not the same kind of fool, but I am a fool of
several other sorts.'

Then the cook came out and beat a tattoo on the bottom of a dish-pan.
Baptiste answered with a yell: but though keenly hungry, no man would
demean himself to do other than walk with apparent reluctance to his
place at the table. At the further end of the camp was a big fireplace,
and from the door to the fireplace extended the long board tables,
covered with platters of turkey not too scientifically carved, dishes
of potatoes, bowls of apple sauce, plates of butter, pies, and smaller
dishes distributed at regular intervals. Two lanterns hanging from the
roof, and a row of candles stuck into the wall on either side by means
of slit sticks, cast a dim, weird light over the s