hairman. What's that? Ain't got no such
luxuries; well, he can take the barrel."

After this, to our astonishment, Johnston, neatly attired, stood aloft
upon an overturned barrel.

"I'm glad to see so many of you, boys," he said. "Now I'm not a teetotaler
myself, and this is the first time I've occupied such a platform; but
we're all open to conviction, and I want you to remember we've a lady here
who has traveled three hundred miles to talk to you. All we ask is that
you will give her and the old man a fair show."

He had struck the right note, for the British Columbian is a somewhat
chivalrous person, and there was silence, through which the jingle of a
piano in the saloon broke irritatingly, until Lee stood up.

"I'm a sinful man like the rest of you," he began in the more formal
English and high-pitched inflection I knew so well, though the effect was
diminished because some one broke in with assumed wonder, "You don't
say?"

"I've the same passions in me," continued the orator, unheeding, "and once
I came near murder, while for six long years I was a sodden slave to this
awful drink."

"Only awful when it's bad!" another voice said; and there was a cry, "He's
getting ahead nicely! 'Rah for the next President! Give him a show!"

"Sodden mind and body!" repeated Lee; "a-groveling on hands and knees in
the pit of iniquity, and when I came out it left me what you see--a broken
man who, if he'd saved his soul, was too late to save his body. That's
what you'll remember--no one can wallow without paying for it, and you're
strong men who were meant for better. It's all in the choice you
make--health, happiness, prosperity--a jump down a precipice into
eternity, or dying half-rotten in a Vancouver hospital."

"The old thing, but he's taking hold," said Harry when the speaker paused
a moment, and then a glow of light beat out while a tall figure stood in
the doorway of the saloon. The man's face was scornful beneath the costly
wide-brimmed hat; he wore a spotless white shirt instead of a blue one,
while--and this was an unusual sight--a heavy revolver was strapped about
his waist, and neatly polished boots reached to his knees. This I knew was
Hemlock Jim, of evil repute, who had set up a gaming table, and was
supposed to have purchased an interest in the Magnolia.

"Won't you come in, boys, instead of fooling 'round outside there in the
cold?" he asked derisively. "You can have as much water as you like, and
we wo