A Man of Two Countries   By: Alice Harriman (1861-1925)

Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Printer errors have been changed and are listed at the end. All other inconsistencies are as in the original.

A MAN OF TWO COUNTRIES

A MAN of TWO COUNTRIES

BY ALICE HARRIMAN

Author of SONGS O' THE SOUND, CHAPERONING ADRIENNE THROUGH THE YELLOWSTONE, SONGS O' THE OLYMPICS, etc.

Chapter Headings by C. M. DOWLING

1910 THE ALICE HARRIMAN COMPANY NEW YORK & SEATTLE

COPYRIGHT 1910, BY THE ALICE HARRIMAN COMPANY All rights reserved

PRINTED BY THE PREMIER PRESS NEW YORK U. S. A.

TO THE READER

Prior to the days of the cowboy and the range, the settler and irrigation, the State and the Province, an ebb and flow of Indians, traders, trappers, wolfers, buffalo hunters, whiskey smugglers, missionaries, prospectors, United States soldiery and newly organized North West Mounted Police crossed and recrossed the international boundary between the American Northwest and what was then known as the "Whoop Up Country." This heterogeneous flotsam and jetsam held some of the material from which Montana evolved its later statehood.

To one who came to know and to love the region after the surging tide had exterminated the buffalo and worse than exterminated the Indian, to one who appreciates the limitless possibilities of the splendid Commonwealth of Montana on the one side and the great Province of Alberta on the other of that invisible line which now draws together instead of separating men of a common tongue, this period seems tremendously interesting. The "local color" has, perhaps, not been squeezed from too many tubes. Types stand out; never individuals.

As types, therefore, the characters of this book weave their story as the shuttle of time, filled with the woof of hidden purpose and open deed, runs through the warp of their friendships and enmities.

And with the less attractive strands the shifting harness of place and circumstance enmeshes a thread of Love's gold.

BOOK I. THE RIVER

BOOK II. THE PRAIRIE

BOOK III. THE STATE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BOOK I

I. Twisting the Lion's Tail 15

II. The Girl on the Fontenelle 30

BOOK II

I. Under the Union Jack 47

II. Hate 58

III. The Hot Blood of Youth 72

IV. The Return to Fort Benton 88

BOOK III

I. Visitors from Helena 107

II. Charlie Blair's Sister 125

III. A Man of Two Countries 141

IV. The State Republican Convention 155

V. Despair 165

VI. Il Trovatore 180

VII. Debauching a Legislature 196

VIII. Danvers' Discouragement 211

IX. A Frontier Knock 219

X. Wheels Within Wheels 226

XI. The Chinese Legend 241

XII. Recognition 251

XIII. The Lobbyist 257

XIV. The Keystone 268

XV. An Unpremeditated Speech 281

XVI. The Election 291

[Illustration]

BOOK I

THE RIVER

"I beheld the westward marches Of the ... nations, Restless, struggling, toiling, striving." Longfellow

[Illustration]

Chapter I

Twisting the Lion's Tail

Philip Danvers, heading a small party of horsemen, galloped around the corner of a warehouse and pulled up on the levee at Bismarck as the mate of the Far West bellowed, "Let 'er go!"

"Hold on!" he shouted, leaping from his mount.

"Why in blazes!" The mate's impatience flared luridly as he ordered the gang plank replaced. His heat ignited the smouldering resentment of the passengers, and they, too, exploded.