“Dear God!” cried Kalman, “Jesu, have pity and save!”

A smile as of an infant falling asleep played over the rugged face, while the poor lips whispered, “At last—­freedom!—­and—­love!”

He breathed once, deep and long, and then no more.  The long, long fight was done, the fight for freedom and for love.

CHAPTER XIX

MY FOREIGNER

The Night Hawk Mining Company, after a period of doubt and struggle, was solidly on its feet at last.  True, its dividends were not large, but at least it was paying its way, and it stood well among the financial institutions of the country.  Its satisfactory condition was accounted for by its President, Sir Robert Menzies, at the last Annual Meeting of the Company, in the following words:  “It is to the fidelity, diligence, good judgment, and ability to handle men, shown by our young Manager, Mr. Kalmar, during the past five years, that the Company owes its present excellent standing.”

The Foreign Colony and the mine reacted upon each other, to their mutual advantage, the one furnishing labourers, the other work and cash.  The colony had greatly prospered on this account, but perhaps more on account of the influence of Dr. Brown and his mission.  The establishment of a Government school had relieved the missionary of an exacting and laborious department of his work, and allowed him to devote himself to his Hospital and his Training Home.  The changes apparent in the colony, largely as the result of Dr. Brown’s labours, were truly remarkable.  The creating of a market for their produce by the advent of the railway, and for their labour by the development of the mine, brought the Galician people wealth, but the influence of Dr. Brown himself, and of his Home, and of his Hospital, was apparent in the life and character of the people, and especially of the younger generation.  The old mud-plastered cabins were giving place to neat frame houses, each surrounded by its garden of vegetables and flowers.  In dress, the sheep skin and the shawl were being exchanged for the ready-made suit and the hat of latest style.  The Hospital, with its staff of trained nurses under the direction of the young matron, the charming Miss Irma, by its ministrations to the sick, and more by the spirit that breathed through its whole service, wrought in the Galician mind a new temper and a new ideal.  In the Training Home fifty Galician girls were being indoctrinated into that most noble of all sciences, the science of home-making, and were gaining practical experience in all the cognate sciences and arts.