A Man of Two Countries

								

you call it."
"Not so many--no. But Sweet Oil Bob is shrewd, an' the Canadians are
afraid he'll get the biggest share o' the Injun trade. You know how it
is."
Before Danvers could answer, his attention was caught by:
"The ambition of my life is to sit on the supreme bench of some State,"
spoken by a fair-haired young man as he passed with a taller, older one.
"Montana will be a State, some day," the would-be judge went on, eagerly
boyish.
"Hello, Doc," called Charlie, as he sighted the elder pedestrian. "Stop
a minute."
Before the invitation was accepted the physician gave impetus to the
other's desire.
"Hope your hopes, Latimer. Honorable and honest endeavor will reach the
most exalted position." Then he put out his hand to the child, who
clasped it affectionately.
"Well, Charlie," he smiled genially at the English lad as well as on his
former river travelers. "How goes it?"
"All right," returned Charlie, amiably. "So Latimer wants to dabble in
territorial politics, eh?"
"I didn't say so," flushed the embryonic lawyer. "I said I'd like to be
a judge on the supreme bench, some day. I'm going to settle in Montana,
and----"
"What do you think about politics?" suddenly quizzed Charlie, turning to
Danvers.
"I'd not risk losing your friendship," smiled Philip, "by stating what
an Englishman's opinion of American politics are."
"Better not," laughed the doctor, with a keen glance of appraisal.
"I'll admit they're rotten," Latimer hastened to add. "But I'd love to
play the game. No political affiliations should bias my decision."
"Bet you'll be glad to get home, Doc." Charlie changed the subject, so
foreign to his out-of-door interests. "You can't keep the doctor away
from Fort Benton," he explained to the two strangers. "He thinks she's
got a big future, don't you, Doc?"
"To be sure! To be sure!" corroborated the physician, as his arm went
around the little girl. "Fort Benton will be a second St. Louis! Mark my
words, Latimer." He turned to his companion, whose charm of manner
appealed unconsciously to the reserved Danvers.
"I hope your predictions may prove correct, since I am to set up a law
office there," replied Latimer. "And you?" He turned to include Philip
Danvers in a smile which the lonely Englishman never forgot.
"He an' I 's for Fort Macleod," explained Scar Faced Charlie, before
Philip could speak. These ready frontiersmen had a way of taking the
words out of his mouth.
"He's for the Mounted Police, yeh know, an' I'm freightin' in the
supplies. An' what d'yeh think, Doc? Toe String Joe says he's goin' to
enlist when we get to Fort Benton. Burroughs won't mind havin' him in
the Force."
"Isn't it unusual for Canadian troopers to come through the United
States?" inquired Arthur Latimer.
This time it was the doctor who answered the question directed toward
the silent Danvers.
"The first companies marched overland from Winnipeg two years ago, when