Good-bye!"

Throughout the night they marched, now and then receiving a lift from a
ranch wagon, and in the grey of the morning, weary, hungry, but resolute
for a place in the Wapiti company, they made the village.

Early as it was, Barry found his father astir, with breakfast in
readiness.

"Hello, boy!" cried his father running to him with outstretched hands.

"Hello, dad!" answered Barry. His father threw a searching glance over
his son's face as he shook his hand warmly.

"Not a word, Barry, until you eat. Not a word. Go get ready for your
bath. I'll have it for you in a minute. No, not one word. Quick. March.
That is the only word these days. As you eat I'll give you the news."

Resolutely he refused to talk until he saw his son begin upon his
breakfast. Then he poured forth a stream of news. The whole country was
aflame with war enthusiasm. Alberta had offered half a million bushels
of oats for the imperial army, and a thousand horses or more. The
Calgary district had recruited two thousand men, the Edmonton district
as many more. All over Canada, from Vancouver to Halifax, it was the
same.

From the Wapiti district twenty-six ranchers, furnishing their own
horses, had already gone. Ewen Innes was in Edmonton. His brother
Malcolm was in uniform, too, and his young brother Jim was keen to
enlist. Neil Fraser was busy raising a company of Wapiti men. Young
Pickles and McCann had joined up as buglers.

And so the stream flowed, Barry listening with grave face but making no
response.

"And I'm glad you're back, my boy. I'm glad you're back," said his
father, clapping him on the shoulder.

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. They were having each his own
thoughts, and for the first time in their life together, they kept their
thoughts to themselves.

"You're going to your office, Dad," said Barry, when they had cleared
away, and set the house in order.

"No, the office is closed, and will be for some time, I imagine. I'm
busy with Neil Fraser. I'm acting paymaster, quartermaster, recruiting
sergeant, and half a dozen other things."

"I'll go down with you," said Barry, as his father rose to go.

His father came back to him, put his hands on his shoulders, and said:

"Barry, I want you to go to bed."

"Nonsense, dad. I'm all right. I'm going downtown with you."

"Barry," said his father, "we have hard times before us, and you must be
fit. I ask you to go to bed and sleep there this forenoon.