pierre got good property.
He not want lose it.

"Me, I say all right! I go to jail. There is a trial. Everything got
come out. John Gaviller he cannot make slaves after that. I say let
them send me to jail. My children will be free!"

The meeting went wild at this. Simon had lost control. Even his own
sons, as could be read in their faces, sympathized with the speakers.
The old man betrayed nothing in his face. He stood like a rock until
he could get a hearing.

"Jack Mackenzie say I rich," he said proudly. "Say I think of my
property first. I now say whatever we do, we do together. We will
decide by vote. If you vote to burn the store I will put the fire to
it myself!"

They cheered him to the echo. Some cried: "Burn the store!" Some
cried: "Vote!" By this move Simon captured their attention again. He
held up a hand for silence.

"Wait!" he said. "I have a little more to say. Jack Mackenzie say we
got to break our chains. Those are true words! But how? If we burn
the store we only rivet them tighter.

"Gaviller will cry these are bad men and lawbreakers. These are
_incendiaries_! It is a word the white men hate. They will say do
what you like to the incendiaries. They deserve no better."

The strange word intimidated them. But a voice cried defiantly: "Must
we wait some more?" And their cries threatened to down the old man.

"No!" he cried in a voice that silenced them. "Here is Ambrose Doane!"
He paused for dramatic effect.

"I ask Ambrose Doane to our meeting to talk with us. I now say to
him"--he turned to Ambrose--"you have heard these men. They are so
much wronged they cannot see the right. They are so mad they don't
know what they do.

"I ask, Ambrose Doane, will you save them from their madness? Will you
help us break our chains? _Buy our grain_?"

CHAPTER XV.

THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.

An absolute silence followed Simon Grampierre's unexpected words. The
astute old man had withheld his proposal until the psychological
moment. Ambrose was a little dazed by it. He rose, feeling every
eager eye upon him, and said slowly:

"I must have a little time to consider. I must talk with Simon
Grampierre. I will give him my answer before morning."

Simon said to the company: "Men, will you sell your wheat to Ambrose
Doane at a dollar-seventy-five?"

The question broke the spell of silence. There could be no mistake
that the proposal was successful. A chorus o