"If you quit now, you quit for good! Don't know why I've kept you,
anyway!"

"I know," said Drummond, who resolved to be firm. If his employer really
meant to get rid of him, he risked nothing, but if not, he might win
some advantage. "You couldn't get another clerk to take my job for the
wages you pay."

"Well," said the other grimly, "I'm willing to try. It's a sure thing I
couldn't get a man who'd muss up the store like you. Come to me for your
money and light out when you like."

He went out, banging the door, and Drummond sat down, rather limply, on
a dry-goods bale. After all, it was something of a shock to find himself
dismissed, but in a few minutes he gathered confidence. Stormont had
given him fifty dollars and promised him a share in the silver mine, and
although he had soon spent the money, he would go to Winnipeg, ask for
another payment, and see what progress the fellow was making. If the
vein had not yet been located, Stormont would, no doubt, find him a job.
In fact, the only trouble was that when he had bought his ticket he
would not have enough money left to pay his bill at the boarding-house.

Four days later, he left the town, and reaching Winnipeg one afternoon,
began to inquire about Stormont in the great, domed, marble-paved
waiting-room. To his surprise, the officials he questioned knew nothing
about the man, and when one sent him to the inquiry office, the
fashionably dressed lady clerk was ignorant. She, however, threw a
directory on the counter and told him haughtily that he could look for
the address.