that all right without me."

"And they mean business?"

"Who, the boys?"

"Yes."

"Sure, and I'm to give drinks all around when they're through, as my
part of the fun. Ye'd better go along."

"But I'll be too late."

"Not a bit of it. Some of the preliminaries, such as the prayers and
hymns, will be over, but you'll be in time fer the fun; they'll be in
no hurry."

"Good. I'll go. Take care of my gear, will you, till I come back."

With this Pritchen left the saloon and made his way over to the Indian
village.

CHAPTER XIV

THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS

The debate was well advanced when Pritchen entered the building. The
rough benches were all filled, so he stood with his back to the door
among several who were in a similar situation. The chairman of the
meeting, Caribou Sol, was sitting at the farther end of the room before
a small table. At his left sat Keith, by the side of the mission
harmonium, which had been brought over from the church for this special
occasion. A portion of the room behind the chairman was hidden by a
bright coloured curtain. This was a source of wonder to the audience,
and aroused in their minds various conjectures.

"That's where they keep the goat," said one talkative fellow. "Don't
you see his horns?"

"No, but I hear him blat outside," replied another, at which a general
laugh ensued.

"But really," continued the other, undisturbed by the merriment at his
expense, "there _is_ something behind that curtain. Joe, the kid,
knows all about it, but he's as tight as a clam. He said the parson
put it up at the last moment like greased lightning."

"Maybe he keeps his thunder there," laughed another. "I understand
he's dead set against whiskey, and has some hot bolts to hand out
to-night. But say, here he comes, looking mighty pleased about
something."

At first the debate was conducted in a formal and orderly manner. The
leaders in carefully prepared speeches opened up the subject, and
received hearty applause. Gradually the men thawed out, the speaking
became general, and in some cases regular harangues ensued, punctured
by witty remarks from the listeners.

One of these had the floor when Pritchen arrived. He had been talking
for some time about the evils of whiskey and the misery it caused to so
many people.

"Think of the homes it has ruined," he was saying; "the young lives it
has blighted; the prisons it is filling; the----"

"What about the snak