an infant falling asleep played over the rugged face,
while the poor lips whispered, "At last--freedom!--and--love!"

He breathed once, deep and long, and then no more. The long,
long fight was done, the fight for freedom and for love.

CHAPTER XIX

MY FOREIGNER

The Night Hawk Mining Company, after a period of doubt and
struggle, was solidly on its feet at last. True, its dividends were
not large, but at least it was paying its way, and it stood well
among the financial institutions of the country. Its satisfactory
condition was accounted for by its President, Sir Robert Menzies,
at the last Annual Meeting of the Company, in the following words:
"It is to the fidelity, diligence, good judgment, and ability to
handle men, shown by our young Manager, Mr. Kalmar, during the past
five years, that the Company owes its present excellent standing."

The Foreign Colony and the mine reacted upon each other, to their
mutual advantage, the one furnishing labourers, the other work and
cash. The colony had greatly prospered on this account, but perhaps
more on account of the influence of Dr. Brown and his mission. The
establishment of a Government school had relieved the missionary of
an exacting and laborious department of his work, and allowed him
to devote himself to his Hospital and his Training Home. The changes
apparent in the colony, largely as the result of Dr. Brown's labours,
were truly remarkable. The creating of a market for their produce
by the advent of the railway, and for their labour by the development
of the mine, brought the Galician people wealth, but the influence of
Dr. Brown himself, and of his Home, and of his Hospital, was apparent
in the life and character of the people, and especially of the younger
generation. The old mud-plastered cabins were giving place to neat
frame houses, each surrounded by its garden of vegetables and flowers.
In dress, the sheep skin and the shawl were being exchanged for the
ready-made suit and the hat of latest style. The Hospital, with its
staff of trained nurses under the direction of the young matron,
the charming Miss Irma, by its ministrations to the sick, and more
by the spirit that breathed through its whole service, wrought in
the Galician mind a new temper and a new ideal. In the Training Home
fifty Galician girls were being indoctrinated into that most noble of
all sciences, the science of home-making, and were gaining practical
experience in all the c