“He drove me from his house.  He was afraid to death.”

“Yes,” continued Kalman, “and Mr. Brown came and took the children to his hospital, and they are well to-day.”

“Yes,” cried Bogarz, “and he would take nothing for it all, but I paid him all I could, and I will gladly pay him more.”

And so from one to another went the word.  The friends of Klazowski, for he still had a following, were beaten into silence.  Then rose more ominous murmurs.

“I would not have Klazowski in my house with my family,” cried one, “a single day.  It would not be safe.  I need say no more.”

Others were found with similar distrust of Klazowski’s morals.  Klazowski was furious, and sought with loud denunciations and curses to quell the storm of indignation that had been roused against him.  Then Kalman executed a flank movement.

“This man,” he cried, his loud, clear voice gaining him a hearing, “This man is promising to build us a church.  He has been collecting money.  How much money do you think he has by this time?  I, myself, gave him ten dollars; Mr. French gave him twenty-five.”

At once cries came from all parts of the building.  “I gave him twenty-five.”  “And I ten.”  “And I five.”  And so on, Kalman keeping count.

“I make it nearly two hundred dollars,” he cried.  “Has any one seen the books?  Does any one know where the money is?”

“No, no,” cried the crowd.

“Then,” cried Kalman, “let us enquire.  We are not sheep.  This is a free country, and we are free men.  The days of the old tyranny are gone.”  The house rocked with the wild cheers of the excited crowd.  “Let us examine into this.  Let us appoint a committee to find out how much money has been paid and where it is.”

With enthusiasm Kalman’s suggestion was carried into effect.  A committee was appointed and instructed to secure the information with all speed.

Next day Klazowski was not to be found in the colony.  He had shaken the Wakota snow from off his feet, and had departed, carrying with him the people’s hard-earned money, their fervent curses, and a deep, deep grudge against the young man upon whom he laid the responsibility for the collapse of his influence among the faithful and long-suffering people of Wakota.

A few days later, to an interested and devout congregation in the city of Winnipeg, he gave an eloquent account of his labours as a missionary in the remote colony of Wakota, depicted in lurid colours the persecutions he had endured at the hands of the heretic Brown, reserving his most fervid periods for the denunciation of the unscrupulous machinations of an apostate and arch traitor, Kalman Kalmar, whose name would forever be remembered by his people with infamy.

Among those who remained to congratulate and sympathize with the orator, none was more cordial than Mr. Rosenblatt, with whom the preacher went home to dine, and to whom, under the mellowing influence of a third bottle, he imparted full and valuable information in regard to Wakota, its possibilities as a business centre, its railroad prospects, its land values, its timber limits, and especially in regard to the character and work of Kalman Kalmar, and the wonderful mine which the young man had discovered.