The Pulaskian., 1920-01-30

men,"
 You have my prolnise,' said Hilary, "that they shall not sell liquor In St. Bonifaee. And by heaven I'll smash any man who tries to corrupt my peo- ple!" he added, with a yehemence that surprised himself.
 Hillary slept poorly that night Trou- ble seemed to be thickenIng about him. Had he, indeed, the power to handle these wild people whose very tongue he could hardly understand?
 Then, out of the darkness, there rose, in vivid portrayal, the face of Madeleine Rosny. He admitted now how much she meant to him, enough to make any venture worth the while. He thought of their last meeting; and in spite of it he dared to dream of happier one to come.
 Before he fell asleep he had decided to go to Quebec and try to secure some jobber to take over Leblanc's lease. At the same time he would look up the land records and get an accurate idea of the extent of the Resny seigniory.
 Characteristically he put his plan into practice two days later, when the down boat arrived, instructing Lafe to hold up the dynamiting till his return. Lafe saw him off, and he had hardly arrived on board before discovering that Morris had embarked at Ste. Marie. Hilary suspected him of hav- ing learned of his plan and spying on him. The two men eyed each other, but did not speak.
 Hilary put up at the Frontenac and, having business with the customs office with reference to a shipment of ma chinery, a small matter requiring re- fund, he called there, and was disgust ed to see Morris coming out of the rev enue department in conversation with the assistant chief.
 He failed entirely in his attempts to get a iobber to sublease Leblanc's tract. There were plenty of small men willing to do so on the installment sys- tenn, but none willing to risk an imme- diate investment on a territory with
 
 unjustly acquired.
 Hilary knew he had to thank Morris for that. He returned to St. Boni- face next day with only one thing ac- complished. He had seen the land map and aseertained that the upper reaches of Rocky river had been surveyed and that the creek was wholly on his own land. He found, too, with some sur prise, that large island out in the Gulf was part of the Rosny domain. It had not appeared on Morris rough map
 Lafe, who met him at the wharf, looked worried.
 "Pm glad you've come" he said, as they drove to the mill together ''Things were pretty bad on Saturday night"
 They're striking?"
 "No, MT. Asiew. That's the bright est point in the situation. MacPherson, the foreman, tells me that it's called off. Brousseau's dropped that maneu- yer, for some reason of his own."
 "What's the trouble, then?"
 q guess Brousseau's off on another tack, MT. AslSew. All the hands was over to Ste. Marie on Saturday night by special invitation from Simeon Du- val, who owns the biggest dance hall there. There was free drinks for every body, and the whole place was in an uproar till Sunday morning. Not a stroke of work has been done here till yesterday, which means a four-day week. The men are only just sobering up now.
 However, that ain't the worst. by a long sight. It's a sort of open secret that they're going to open up St. Boni- face wide, and Simeon's-"
 You mean Simeon has dared to start one of his hells here while was away?" cried Hilary angrily.
 Mot yet" said Lafe. ''There ain't no more liquor being sold here than usual-yet. But they're going to open up if they can. Simeon's brother Louis has rented that house by the old sta bles that Jean Baptiste used to occupy last year before it began to go to pieces, and he's going to have a dance hall there and sell brandy"
 Hilary rapped out an oath. "Not if have anything to say" he answered.
 'Nor me-" said Lafe. '"The trouble is, where do we start in? We can't fight the whole town single-handed. was wondering whether we couldn't wire the revenue people"
 "No!" said Hilary sharply. "Wen fight our own battles, Lafe."
 Lafe subsided in hurt sort of way. The evidences of demoralization were obvious in St. Boniface. The men were slow and surly, the women sullen, slatternly and hopeless-looking. It was clear that they had little hope Hilary could counter this new project. Hill ary was aware of feeling in the air, as if he was being tested. He saw