“You may be sent for from Edmonton later. Don’t let these cases out of your sight until Private Cooper calls for them.”
He went out and came back later with the trooper and a teamster they had hired, who loaded the cases on a sled. Sergeant Inglis, however, sat still in his saddle, with a watchful eye on Mitcham and another man who stood, handcuffed, at his horse’s side. When the police had ridden off with their prisoners, Morgan, the engineer, sent for Kermode.
“I’ve seen the sergeant and he gave me an outline of the affair,” he said. “It was cleverly thought out—I suppose the idea was yours?”
“I can’t deny it,” returned Kermode modestly.
“Well,” said the other, “see that your friends and you begin work as usual to-morrow.”
During the next two weeks Ferguson made some progress in repairing the damage to his church. He found several helpers, now that his strongest opponent had been removed. The weather, however, grew more severe and as the frost interfered with operations, men were freely dismissed. One day Morgan and the contractor’s clerk sat talking in the latter’s office.
“I’ll have to cut out two or three teams,” he said. “I don’t know whom I ought to fire.”
“Kermode,” Morgan advised promptly.
The clerk looked surprised.
“Foreman reports him as a pretty good teamster. He strikes me as smart and capable,” he objected.