ounger portion. It
lay within the boundaries of the four different settlements, and as
clearings began to widen and social intercourse became easier, it had
gradually become a place where men met for mutual help or hindrance, as
the case might be. Here the several nationalities mingled, and though
they did not realise the fact, here they were laying the foundations of
a great nation. Such a vast work as this could scarcely be carried on
without some commotion; the chemist must look for explosions when he
produces a strange new compound from diverse elements; and it was,
therefore, no wonder that the crucible in the valley of the Oro was
often the scene of much boiling and seething. Then the tavern came,
with its brain-destroying fire, and sometimes after harvest, when the
Fighting MacDonalds and the belligerent Murphys met before it, the
noise of the fray might be heard in the farthest-off clearing of the Oa.

Scotty's eyes rested fearfully on the tavern. It was a common log
building, wider than the ordinary ones and with a porch in front and a
lean-to behind. To the boy its appearance was a great surprise and
some disappointment. Grandaddy always spoke of it as "a den of
iniquity"; and Scotty's fancy had pictured such a den as Daniel had
been cast into, which he had seen many times in Granny's big Bible.

He was rather sorry they did not stop there, the inside might be more
romantic; but he soon forgot it in the excitement of other scenes; for
they went to the mill and Sandy Hamilton, all floury and smiling, took
him down to where the water came thundering over the big wheel; and
then, while the boys went off with the team, Big Malcolm took his
grandson to the most wonderful place yet, the store.

This was the most important place in the Glen, and the man who kept it,
James Thompson, or Store Thompson, as the neighbours called him, was
the most important and influential member of the community. He was a
fine, upright, intelligent man and was known far and wide for his
learning. He possessed a vocabulary of polysyllables that never failed
to confound an opponent in argument, and all the township could tell
how he once vanquished a great university graduate, who was visiting
Captain Herbert at Lake Oro. He was often identified by this
illustrious deed, and was pointed out to strangers as, "Store Thompson,
him that downed the Captain's college man."

Big Malcolm and Store Thompson, though the latter was a Low