Black Rock - A Tale Of The Selkirks A Tale of the Selkirks

THE story of the book is true, and chief of the failures in the making of the book is this, that it is not all the truth. The light is not bright enough, the shadow is not black enough to give atrue picture of that bit of Western life of which the writer was some small part. The men of the book are still there in the minesand lumber camps of themoun- tains, fighting out that eternal fightfor manhood, strong, clean, God-conquered. And when the west winds blow, to the open ear the sounds of battle come, telling the fortunes of the fight. Because a mans life is all he has, and because the only hope of the brave young West lies in its be that the men, this story is told. It may tragic pity of a broken life may move some to pray, and that that divine power there is in a single brave hearttosummon forthhope and cour- age may move some to fight. If so, the tale is not told in vain. C. W. G. m INTRODUCTION. I THINK have met Ralph Connor. Indeed, I am sure I have once in a canoe on the Red River, once on the Assinaboine, and twice or thrice on the prairies to the west. That was not the name he gave me, but, if I am right, itcovers one of the most honest and genial of the strong characters that are fighting the devil and doing work for men all over the world. He has good seen with his own eyes the life which he describes in this book, and has himself, for some years of hard and lonely toil, assisted in the good influ- ences which he traces among its wild and often hopeless conditions. He writes with the freshness and accuracy of an eyewitness, with the style as 1 think his readers will allow of a real artist, and with the tenderness and hopefulness of a man not only of faith, but of experience, who has seen in fulfilment the ideal for whichhe lives. The life to which he takes us, though far off is the life of and very strange to our tame minds, vi Introduction. our brothers. Into the Northwest of Canada the young men of Great Britain and Ireland have been pouring I was told, sometimes at the rate of forty-eight thousand a year. Our brothers who left home yesterday our hearts cannot but follow them. With these pages Ealph Connor enables our eyes and our minds to follow, too nor do I think there is any one who shall read this book and not find also that his conscience is quickened. There is a warfare appointed unto man upon earth, and its struggles are nowhere more intense, nor the victories of the strong nor the succors brought to the fallen more heroic, than on the fields described in this volume. G-EOEGE ADAM SMITH. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Christmas Eve in a Lumber Camp PAOK 9 CHAPTER II. The Black Rock Christmas 28 CHAPTER III. Waterloo. Our Fight His Victory Mrs. Mayors Story The Making of the League Black Rock Religion CHAPTER IV. CHAPTER V. CHAPTER VI. CHAPTER VII. The First Black Rock Communion The Breaking of the League The Leagues Revenge CHAPTER VIII. CHAPTER IX. 7 52 71 87 ... 104 119 134 153 8 What Came to Slavin TheTwo Calls Love Is Not All Contents. CHAPTER x. CHAPTER XI. CHAPTER XII. CHAPTER XIII. How Nelson Came Home GraemesNew Birth Coming to TheirOwn 256 CHAPTER XIV. CHAPTER XV. PAGE 170 195 212 225 237 BLACK ROCK. CHAPTER I. CHEISTMAS EVE IN A LUMBER CAMP. IT was due to a mysterious dispensation of Providence and a good deal to Leslie Graeme that I found myself in the heart of the Selkirks for my Christmas eve as the year 1882was dying. It had been my plan tospend my Christmas far away in Toronto, with such bohemian and boon companions as could be found in that cosmopolitan and kindly city...