the little widow at
Jansen. It had never shone so brightly as on the night when Vigon struck
oil on O'Ryan's ranch. But Vigon had no memory of that. Such is the
irony of life.

THE ERROR OF THE DAY

The "Error of the Day" may be defined as "The difference between the
distance or range which must be put upon the sights in order to hit the
target and the actual distance from the gun to the target."--Admiralty
Note.

A great naval gun never fires twice alike. It varies from day to day,
and expert allowance has to be made in sighting every time it is fired.
Variations in atmosphere, condition of ammunition, and the wear of the
gun are the contributory causes to the ever-varying "Error of the Day."

.........................

"Say, ain't he pretty?"

"A Jim-dandy-oh, my!"

"What's his price in the open market?"

"Thirty millions-I think not."

Then was heard the voice of Billy Goat--his name was William Goatry

"Out in the cold world, out in the street;
Nothing to wear, and nothing to eat,
Fatherless, motherless, sadly I roam,
Child of misfortune, I'm driven from home."

A loud laugh followed, for Billy Goat was a popular person at Kowatin in
the Saskatchewan country. He had an inimitable drollery, heightened by
a cast in his eye, a very large mouth, and a round, good-humoured face;
also he had a hand and arm like iron, and was altogether a great man on
a "spree."

There had been a two days' spree at Kowatin, for no other reason than
that there had been great excitement over the capture and the subsequent
escape of a prairie-rover, who had robbed the contractor's money-chest
at the rail-head on the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Forty miles from
Kowatin he had been caught by, and escaped from, the tall, brown-eyed
man with the hard-bitten face who leaned against the open window of the
tavern, looking indifferently at the jeering crowd before him. For a
police officer he was not unpopular with them, but he had been a failure
for once, and, as Billy Goat had said: "It tickled us to death to see a
rider of the plains off his trolley--on the cold, cold ground, same as
you and me."

They did not undervalue him. If he had been less a man than he was,
they would not have taken the trouble to cover him with their drunken
ribaldry. He had scored off them in the past in just such sprees as
this, when he had the power to do so, and used the power good-naturedly
and quietly--b