If Any Man Sin

by H. A. Cody

"Did she?" and the look on Nance's face showed her delight. "It was so nice to be there. She is the first white woman I ever met, and I hope to see her often."

"Ye won't find all like her, remember, Miss," and Tom's voice had a note of pathos in it. "She is one in a thousand. Not many would be willin' to come in here to help us poor critters. Now, them other women, they're here fer no good, an' they're bound to cause a lot of trouble. Something has got to be done, an' I believe that the parson'll take a hand in the matter to save the boys. Before the women came there was the whiskey. Now, with both women an' whiskey things are bound to be pretty lively. The saloon is goin' full blast, an' the parson has been worryin' a good deal. It was in kernection with this matter that he visited us at the diggin's to-day. He outlined his plan, an', by jiminey! we're goin' to help him."

"Sure thing," Dad assented, as he swung up his queen, in an effort to corner Nance's king. "We'll stand by the parson. Check!"

"Mate!" Nance triumphantly cried, bringing up a knight, and completely cornering Dad's king.

"Well, I'll be jiggered!" the prospector exclaimed, as he studied the clever trap into which his opponent had led him. "I didn't see what you were up to till the last. My! that was well done, an' you certainly do deserve the game," and he lifted his eyes, filled with admiration, to the flushed face of his fair young woman, who had outwitted him so cleverly.

"I hope the parson'll do as well at his game over yon," Tom quietly remarked. "I'm afraid there'll be many checks before it's mate in his case. But he's got good grit, an' that's a great thing in his favour. He's made a fair start so fer in gittin' the hospital built, an' havin' a nurse brought in. As soon as the boys see that he goes in fer practical religion, an' if they've eyes at all they must surely see it by now, then they'll be with him. I think that next Sunday 'ill tell the tale."

"What's going to happen next Sunday?" Martin quietly asked.

"Didn't I tell ye? No? Well, that's queer," and Tom ran the fingers of his right hand through his long hair. "To think that we fergot to mention sich an important piece of news, an' it was what took the parson all the way out to the diggin's fer, too."

"Quit yer croaking, Tom, and come to the point," Dad growled. "If you don't I'll have to."

"Feelin' sore over yer lickin', are ye?" Tom bantered. "Well, the parson has been doin' some serious thinkin' of late, an' so he wanted our advice. He knew that the miners at Quaska an' on the creeks need some attraction to keep them away from the saloon, an' to give 'em 'an' uplift,' as he calls it. He, therefore, suggested that we hold a bang-up service next Sunday night in the hospital. We agreed that it was a fine idea, an' promised that we'd do all we could to round up the boys. I don't think there will be any trouble in gittin' 'em, especially if there's plenty of music an' singin'. With two fiddles a-playin' the boys 'ill do the rest."