but they all stood
watching as he rode away, and listening,

"With my lances at my back,
My good sword at my knee,
Light of my life, joy of my soul,
I'll fight, I'll die for thee!"

And as the song ceased she rode away, and as she rode she smiled.

CHAPTER XVII

THE FIGHT FOR THE MINE

The early approach of winter checked the railroad construction
proper, but with the snow came good roads, and contractors were
quick to take advantage of the easier methods of transportation
furnished by winter roads to establish supply depots along the
line, and to open tie camps up in the hills. And so the old
Edmonton Trail was once more humming with life and activity far
exceeding that of its palmiest days.

As for Kalman, however, it was the mine that absorbed his attention
and his energies. By day and by night he planned and dreamed and
toiled for the development of his mine. With equal enthusiasm Brown
and French joined in this enterprise. It was French that undertook to
deal with all matters pertaining to the organization of a company by
which the mine should be operated. Registration of claim, the securing
of capital, the obtaining of charter, all these matters were left in
his hands. A few weeks' correspondence, however, revealed the fact
that for Western enterprises money was exceedingly difficult to secure.
French was eager to raise money by mortgaging his ranch and all his
possessions, but this proposal Kalman absolutely refused to consider.
Brown, too, was opposed to this scheme. Determined that something
should be done, French then entered into contracts with the Railroad
Company for the supply of ties. But though he and Mackenzie took a
large force into the woods, and spent their three months in arduous
toil, when the traders and the whiskey runners had taken their full
toll little was left for the development of the mine.

The actual working of the mine fell to Kalman, aided by Brown.
There was an immediate market for coal among the Galicians of the
colony, who much preferred it to wood as a fuel for the clay ovens
with which they heated their houses. But they had little money to
spare, and hence, at the beginning of the work, Kalman hit upon
the device of bartering coal for labour, two days' work in the mine
entitling a labourer to a load of coal. Brown, too, needed coal for
his mill. At the Crossing there was large demand for coal, while
correspondence with the Railroad C