uglas reasoned.

"That's very true," and Jake ran his fingers through his hair. "We
would have overlooked sich things if he had been all right as a parson.
But he wasn't, fer he used no tact, an' got Si Stubbles down on him,
an' so that finished him as fer as this parish is concerned."

"Did all the people follow Mr. Stubbles in disliking the clergyman?"

"Nearly all of them."

"Why was that?"

Jake looked quizzically at his companion before replying. Douglas
thought of Joe Benton's action when Stubbles had been mentioned, and
his interest was now much aroused.

"I guess ye'll need to understand this parish quite a bit better before
ye can git that question answered," Jake explained. "Ye'll have to
know more about Si Stubbles, too."

"He rules things here, then?"

"Should say he does."

"So any clergyman who wishes to get along in this parish must keep on
the good side of Mr. Stubbles?"

"That's jist it. He must knuckle down to him or git out."

"But why do the people allow that?"

"Allow what?"

"Mr. Stubbles to rule things in such a way?"

"H'm, they can't help it. Why, Si Stubbles owns most of the people in
this place, body an' soul. The men work fer him in the woods in the
winter time, an' in his mill the rest of the year. They git nearly
everything at his store, an' are generally in debt to him, so that's
where he has 'em. What Si says goes in this parish, an' any one who
bucks him has to git out. Several tried it in the past, but they
didn't stay here long. Things got too hot fer 'em. It pays a man to
keep on the good side of Si, if he expects to hold on here."

"You must be independent of him, though. You have your farm, and do
not look to him for anything."

"Not a bit of it. I'm in his clutches jist as much as the rest of the
folks. He buys all of my stuff, an' I haul logs fer him in the winter.
It means quite a bit to me. An' besides, if Si should git down on me,
why all the rest would do so, too. He's got us all in the same box."

"So, it's chiefly through him, then, that the church is closed in this
parish?"

"That's about it."

"But why doesn't some other man come, say a Methodist or Baptist
minister? Surely all of the people here do not belong to the Church of
England?"

"Most of 'em do, but there's a sprinklin' of Baptists and Methodies,
with here an' there a Presbyterian. Their men did come, an' started
meetin's. But they didn't stay long when Si once got aft