"No, I don't."
"Your government must help us over the stile. Just so long as those men remain unpaid, life won't be very safe in St. Marys."
Semple looked round apprehensively. "But my government doesn't live here. What have I got to do with it?"
"I don't know, but, by virtue of pressure you will exert, the
Government must help. What's the Liberal majority in Ontario?"
"One. I'm it."
"Then you keep the Premier in power, and he's hanging on to power like grim death."
"But I don't see—"
"It's simple enough. If you settle this affair to the satisfaction of local people, you'll secure Algoma to the Liberal party, so long as that party wants it."
"By God!" said Semple, startled.
Clark apparently did not hear him. "There's another thing—to set those works in motion again will be the biggest advertisement any government in Canada ever had. It will swing the labor vote—it will secure the merchants' support." He paused, then leant forward and poured into Semple the full pressure—the accumulated effort of mind and spirit. "Ample security is available. I will make repayment the first obligation of the Company—it will forestall bonds and everything else. What I want, and what you will find for me, is only a fraction of the sum that has been put straight into this Province; and it's not much more than we have already paid in mineral and lumber dues and taxes."