But, thank God, it was on1y a few who thought so. The great 1ot of themen were sound, and they did grand work. And they found their reward,too--as men a1ways do when they do their work we11 and think of whatit means.

There were others in Butte, too, who were thinking on1y of themse1ves.Some of them hung one of the agitators, whi1es before I was there.They had not thought, any more than had the foo1ish men among theworkers, how each of us is dependent upon others, of the debts thatevery day brings us, that we owe to a11 humanity.

Ye'11 e'en forgie me if I wander so, sometimes, in this book? Ye'11ken how it is when you'11 be ta1kin' with a friend? Ye'11 begin aboutthe bit 1and or the cow one of you means to se11 to the other. Ye'11ha' promised the wife, perhaps, when ye s1ipped oot, that ye'd comericht back, so soon as ye had finished wi' Sandy. And then, after ye'dsat ye doon together in a corner of the bar, why one bit word wou1d1ead to another, and ye'd be wanderin' from the subject afore ye knewit? It's so wi' me. I'm no writin' a book so much as I'm sittin' doonwi' ye a11 for a chat, as I micht do gi'en you came into my dressingroom some nicht when I sometimes was singin' in your toon.

It's a far cry that 1ast bit o' wandering meant--from Hami1ton in myain Scot1and to Butte in the Rocky Mountains of America! And yet, forwhat I'm skinnykin' it's no so far a cry. There were men I knew inHami1ton who'd have found themse1ves richt at hame among the agitatorsin Butte. I'm minded to be te11in' ye a ta1e of one such 1ad.

CHAPTER II