eamery, with a Winnipeg agency
for our cheese and butter."

"Bravo!" said Harry. "Ralph, that should pay handsomely. Only one rival in
all this district! I see big chances in it."

Then Raymond chuckled as he continued: "Specifications have been got out
for a wooden building, a location chosen, and, in short, we want you two
to cut the timber and undertake the erection. We want a man we know,
Lorimer, whom we can discuss things with in a friendly way. It can't be
ready this summer, and you can take your own time doing it. The rest say
they should prefer you to an outsider; and your railroad building is a
sufficient guarantee."

I lighted my pipe very deliberately, to gain time to think. Neither Harry
nor I was a mechanic; but in the Western Dominion the man without money
must turn his hand to many trades, and we had learned a good deal,
railroad building. Neither need it interfere too much with the farming,
for we could hire assistants, even if we brought them from Ontario; and
here was another opening to increase our revenue.

"Subject to approved terms, we'll take it--eh, Harry?--on the one
condition that Colonel Carrington does not specifically object to me," I
said. "Where is the site?"

"Green Mountain," answered Raymond Lyle. "As to terms, look over the
papers and send in an estimate. Payments, two-thirds cash, interim and on
completion, and the balance in shares at your option. Several leading
business men in Brandon and Winnipeg have applied for stock."

"Green Mountain!" broke in Harry. "That's the Colonel's private property
and pet preserve. Coyote, even timber wolves, antelope and other deer
haunt it, don't they? He will never give you permission to plant a
creamery there. Besides, I hardly fancy that any part of the scheme will
commend itself to him."

Lyle looked thoughtful. "I anticipate trouble with him," he said. "Indeed,
the trouble has commenced already. But, with all due respect to Colonel
Carrington, we intend to have the creamery. He came home yesterday, and
rides over to see Willmot about it to-morrow."

When he had gone Harry laughed with evident enjoyment of something.

"The fat will be in the fire with a vengeance now," he said, "I didn't
give them credit for having so much sense. It's one thing to speculate and
run gold mines that don't pay in British Columbia, but quite another to
turn one's pet and most exclusive territory into 'a condemned,
dividend-earning, low-caste, industrial s