"What do you propose to do, sir?" he enquired.
"With the men? Nothing," answered Hector. "Only—trust them."
Later, when he saw the Lieutenant-Governor again, the latter asked him a little banteringly:
"Aren't you alarmed—in case your Department should fall from its high estate, as the recorders have done?"
"No, I'm not," he replied.
Then, on the same day, came to hand two reports, one from Dunsmuir at Hopeful Pass, forwarded through Cranbrook, the other from Cranbrook himself, returned to his station at Nugget, both bearing much on the situation developing in the Territory.
Hector read the first report:
'Nugget City, B.E.T., Today's Date.
'Officer Commanding, N.W.M.P.,
'Black Elk Territory.
'Sir: I have the honour to report that at 3 p.m. yesterday it was reported that word was being circulated through the camps on Upper Nugget for a secret meeting of certain miners to be held in O'Brien's Place, a Nugget City dance-hall, before opening time, i.e., 7 p.m., that day. I considered it better to permit the meeting to be held but to attend same myself in order to ascertain what occurred. I therefore caused it to be circulated throughout Nugget that I would be out of town when the meeting took place. I then secured admission to O'Brien's Place undetected and secreted myself. Before the meeting the hall was searched, but I was not discovered. Sentries were also posted, but in an unobtrusive way, nor were the doors or windows locked, the object being, in my opinion, to deceive us if we interrupted the meeting and cause us to believe that those in attendance had nothing to conceal.