n the soil of St. Marys were springs of sweet water, and through
the windows came the soft glow of lamplight as evening closed in, and
the shuffle of feet on the porch announced the visitor. It was from
the river and the close encircling forest that St. Marys took on its
atmosphere. The maple bush was full of game, and the beaver built
their curving dams in tamarac thickets within three miles of the
village. It was a common thing to kill Sunday's dinner in a two hours
stroll from Filmer's store, and, at the foot of the rapids where the
Indians pushed their long canoes up to the edge of the white water,
there were great, silver fish for the taking. The ducks halted for a
rest on their way north and within a stone's throw of the Bishop's big,
square house, the geese used to alight in a cornfield, sometimes on a
Sunday morning. On such occasions the Bishop experienced keen
embarrassment, for he was a good shot and a good sportsman. In
springtime the Indians would come up from the settlement with mink and
otter which they traded at Filmer's store for bags of brown sugar, and,
these, being silently transported to the bush, would shortly reappear
as quantities of genuine Indian maple sugar, which Filmer's clerks sold
to Filmer's friends with absolute gravity, the nature of the thing
being perfectly understood on both sides of the counter. As to local
excitement, there was twice a year the County Court and, while it might
be said that there was not in all this much for young people to do,
they had, nevertheless, camping trips and cruises in big Mackinaw boats
along the shores of Lake Huron, and snow shoeing expeditions in winter
that took them straight into a fairyland where they built roaring fires
of six foot logs and feasted royally in the ghostly recesses of the
snow burdened woods. All this and much more had the folk of the
village, and everything that went to make up a sweet, clean, uneventful
life. And then into this Arcadia dropped one day a stranger, with an
amazing experience of the outer world, a kaleidoscopic brain, an
extraordinary personal magnetism and a unique combination of driving
force and superlative ambition.

Is it surprising that even though ignorant of Clark's characteristics
the people of St. Marys filled the town hall that night?

II.--ARCADIA WAKES UP

It was a large room with bare floor, painted walls and a flat
sounding-board of a ceiling. Across the end was the platform, and
imm