for it's no verra forrit ye get wi' ane glass. But
wi' yon coffee ye juist get a saxpence-worth an' ye want nae mair.'

There was another shout of laughter, which puzzled Geordie much.

'I dinna see the jowk, but I've slippit ower in whusky mair nor a hunner
dollars.'

Then he paused, looking hard before him, and twisting his face into
extraordinary shapes till the men looked at him in wonder.

'I'm rale glad o' this saloon, but it's ower late for the lad that canna
be helpit the noo. He'll not be needin' help o' oors, I doot, but there
are ithers'--and he stopped abruptly and sat down, with no applause
following.

But when Slavin, our saloon-keeper, rose to reply, the men jumped up
on the seats and yelled till they could yell no more. Slavin stood,
evidently in trouble with himself, and finally broke out--

'It's spacheless I am entirely. What's come to me I know not, nor how
it's come. But I'll do my best for yez.' And then the yelling broke out
again.

I did not yell myself. I was too busy watching the varying lights in
Mrs. Mavor's eyes as she looked from Craig to the yelling men on the
benches and tables, and then to Slavin, and I found myself wondering if
she knew what it was that came to Slavin.

CHAPTER XI

THE TWO CALLS

With the call to Mr. Craig I fancy I had something to do myself. The
call came from a young congregation in an eastern city, and was based
partly upon his college record and more upon the advice of those among
the authorities who knew his work in the mountains. But I flatter myself
that my letters to friends who were of importance in that congregation
were not without influence, for I was of the mind that the man who could
handle Black Rock miners as he could was ready for something larger than
a mountain mission. That he would refuse I had not imagined, though I
ought to have known him better. He was but little troubled over it. He
went with the call and the letters urging his acceptance to Mrs. Mavor.
I was putting the last touches to some of my work in the room at the
back of Mrs. Mavor's house when he came in. She read the letters and the
call quietly, and waited for him to speak.

'Well?' he said; 'should I go?'

She started, and grew a little pale. His question suggested a
possibility that had not occurred to her. That he could leave his work
in Black Rock she had hitherto never imagined; but there was other work,
and he was fit for good work anywhere. Why should he not