y a couple of
hours late now. See you later, Phil!"

Royce Pederstone went into the forge, doffed his coat, rolled up his
sleeves and put on his leather apron.

Phil followed suit with an apron of Hanson's, and soon the doors were
wide open, the fires blowing and the anvil ringing, drowning the
groans and shouts that came from Hanson as he lay like a trussed fowl
in the adjoining stable.

"I'm sorry this has taken place on the first day of your apprenticeship,
young man, but it has been pending for some time. After this is over,
you won't be afraid to be left with Hanson, I hope. He'll be all
right in a few hours, and very much ashamed of himself you will find
him."

"I'm not afraid," said Phil. "I am just beginning to discover that
fear is the greatest devil we have to contend with and that the less
we worry about it the less real and the more a mere bogey it
becomes."

"True for you, Phil. And the older you grow the more you'll realise
the wisdom of what you say.

"Well, it is just a year since Hanson had his last drinking bout. I
was beginning to think he had got completely over it. He is not likely
to break out again for ever so long."

"What is it exactly that gets him?" asked Phil.

"Oh,--likes drink once in a while, but drink doesn't like him;--that's
all. It goes to his brain somehow. Do you think you could manage him
if he took you unawares?"

"I could try," answered Phil.

"That's the way to talk. And you've got the frame to work on, too. Can
you throw a rope?"

"I used to when I was a kid. I guess, with a little practice, I still
could do it pretty well."

"Well,--practise in your spare time. It is handy to be able to throw a
rope in this Valley. And it doesn't cost anything carrying the ability
about with you. Can you use your fists?"

"Yes!--tolerably well."

"Good for you! Now all you need is to be able to use your head and
everything will be O. K."

All that day, Royce Pederstone worked like the real village blacksmith
he was; shoeing horses, repairing farm implements, bolting, riveting
and welding; showing Phil all he could in the short time he had with
him, telling him--because it was uppermost in his mind--just a little
of his electioneering plans and what he intended doing for the
Okanagan Valley in the way of irrigation, railroads and public
buildings; instilling in his apprentice an enthusiasm for his new work
and making for himself at the same time another friend and political