slightly forward,
and, smiling, began to speak again.

"What you hear is a voice in the wilderness, and, ladies and gentlemen,
you have heard it for years. I, too, have heard it, but for something
less than eight hours, and there is a difference in our hearing and I
want to make that difference clear to you. I listen with a stranger's
ears, being a stranger, and therefore not accustomed to that voice, I
detect in it something which possibly some of you may have recognized,
but certainly none of you have fully appreciated."

There followed a little silence during which Mrs. Dibbott, her eyes
twinkling with intense pleasure, nodded to Mrs. Worden. Her
imagination was already at work, and, of them all, she first caught the
subtle trend of Clark's address.

"It is hardly necessary for me to remind you that your town has made a
certain brave attempt and failed completely in its venture." ("Hear!
Hear!" from Manson.) "This attempt was from the outset bound to fail."
At this point Manson stamped approvingly, and Clark's gray eyes rested
on his big frame for a moment while the least suggestion of a smile
traversed his lips. "The reason is very simple. You lacked experience
in such undertakings. You partly heard the voice but only partly, for
to answer it fully and successfully you must answer it in millions and
not in thousands of dollars."

At this point he paused impressively, while there spread through the
audience the dun colored reflection that the entire town, if
obliterated, could be rebuilt for much less than a million, and so
definite was the reaction that the speaker proceeded to intensify it in
his next remarks.

"You have at present, as the result of this ill-fated enterprise, a
liability of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars--I think it is."
He turned inquiringly to Filmer who nodded, and with him the entire
male section of the audience. There was no question about those
figures.

"This liability imposes a heavy tax upon an unproductive community,
although if you were producers it would be a bagatelle. As against
this liability you have, as assets, a certain piece of property and
certain water rights secured from the Dominion government, rights which
though at present very limited, might be made the basis of further
expansion. And that is all you have--a debt, and against it something
that is of no use to you."

A chilled surprise trickled through the town hall and Filmer himself,
who had