ter in the course of which they too had
been chatting to the engine-drivers.

"I know the part of the country those men want," the American was
saying. "I was all over Alberta last fall--part of it in a motor car. We
jumped about those stubble-fields in a way to make a leopard jealous!
Every bone in my body was sore for weeks afterwards. But it was worth
while. That's a country!"--he threw up his hands. "I was at Edmonton on
the day when the last Government lands, the odd numbers, were thrown
open. I saw the siege of the land offices, the rush of the new
population. Ah, well, of course, we're used to such scenes in the
States. There's a great trek going on now in our own Southwest. But
when that's over, our free land is done. Canada will have the handling
of the last batch on this planet."

"If Canada by that time is not America," said Mariette, drily.

The American digested the remark.

"Well," he said, at last, with a smile, "if I were a Canadian, perhaps I
should be a bit nervous."

Thereupon, Mariette with great animation developed his theme of the
"American invasion." Winnipeg was one danger spot, British Columbia
another. The "peaceful penetration," both of men and capital, was going
on so rapidly that a movement for annexation, were it once started in
certain districts of Canada, might be irresistible. The harsh and
powerful face of the speaker became transfigured; one divined in him
some hidden motive which was driving him to contest and belittle the
main currents and sympathies about him. He spoke as a prophet, but the
faith which envenomed the prophecy lay far out of sight.

Anderson took it quietly. The Chief Justice smiled.

"It might have been," he said, "it might have been! This railroad has
made the difference." He stretched out his hand towards the line and
the pass. "Twenty years ago, I came over this ground with the first
party that ever pushed through Rogers Pass and down the Illecillewaet
Valley to the Pacific. We camped just about here for the night. And in
the evening I was sitting by myself on the slopes of that mountain
opposite"--he raised his hand--"looking at the railway camps below me,
and the first rough line that had been cut through the forests. And I
thought of the day when the trains would be going backwards and
forwards, and these nameless valleys and peaks would become the
playground of Canada and America. But what I didn't see was the shade of
England looking on!--England, who