The Sky Pilot in No Mans Land | Page 5

he
added after a few moments' pause, "But of course we have other
business on hand up here."
"Business? Up here?"
"Yes. Dad has some." He made as if to continue, but changed his mind

and fell into silence, leaving her piqued by his reserve and by his
apparent indifference to the things concerning herself. She did not
know that he was eagerly hoping that she would supply this
information.
At length he ventured, "Must you go away to-day?"
"I don't suppose there's any 'must' about it."
"Why not stay?"
"Why should I?"
"Oh, it would be jolly," he cried. "You see, we could--explore about
here--and,"--he ended rather lamely,--"it's a lovely country."
"We've seen a lot of it. It IS lovely," she said, her eyes upon his face as
if appraising him. "I should like to know you better," she added, with
sudden and characteristic frankness, "so I think we will stay. But you
will have to be awfully good to me."
"Why, of course," he cried. "That's splendid! Perfectly jolly!"
"Then we had better find father and tell him. Come along," she ordered,
and led the way back to the camp.
The young man followed her, wondering at her, and giving slight heed
to the chatter she flung over her shoulder at him as she strode along
through the bushes.
"What's the matter with you?" she cried, facing round upon him. "You
were thinking about me, I know. Confess, now."
"I was," he acknowledged, smiling at her.
"What were you thinking? Tell me," she insisted.
"I was thinking--" He paused.

"Go on!" she cried.
"I was thinking of what your father said about you."
"My father? About me? What did he say? To you?"
"No. To dad."
"What was it? Tell me. I must know." She was very imperious in her
manner. The youth only smiled at her.
"Go on!" she said impatiently.
"I think possibly your father was right," he replied, "when he said you
'boss the show.'"
"Oh, that's what he said, eh? Well, I guess he's about right."
"But you don't really?"
"Don't what? 'Boss the show'? Well, I boss my own show, at any rate.
Don't you?"
"Don't I what, exactly? Boss the show? Well, I don't think we have any
'show,' and I don't believe we have any 'boss.' Dad and I just talk things
over, you see."
"But," she insisted, "some one in the last analysis must decide. Your
menage, no matter how simple, must have a head. It is a law of the
universe itself, and it is the law of mankind. You see, I have done some
political economy."
"And yet," said the young man, "you say you run your own show?"
"Exactly. Every social organism must have a head, but every individual
in the organism must live its own free life. That is true democracy. But
of course you don't understand democracy, you Canadians."
"Aha! There you are! You Americans are the most insular of all the

great peoples of the world. You know nothing of other people. You
know only your own history and not even that correctly, your own
geography, and your own political science. You know nothing of
Canada. You don't know, for instance, that the purest form of
democracy on this American continent lies outside the bounds of the U.
S. A."
"In Canada?" she asked scornfully. "By the way, how many Canadians
are there?"
"Yes, I know. We are a small people," he said quietly, "but no more
real democracy exists anywhere in the world than in this country of
mine. We are a small people, but," he said, with a sweep of his hand
toward the west and the north, "the future is with us. The day is coming
when along this waterway great cities shall be, with factories and
humming industries. These plains, these flowing hills will be the home
of millions of men, and in my lifetime, too."
His eyes began to glow, his face to shine with a rare and fascinating
beauty.
"Do you know the statistics of your country? Do you know that during
the last twenty years the rate of Canada's growth was three times
greater than ever in the history of the United States? You are a great
commercial nation, but do you know that the per capita rate of Canada's
trade to-day is many times that of the United States? You are a great
agricultural people, but do you know that three-quarters of the wheat
land on this continent is Canadian, and that before many years you will
be coming to Canada for your wheat, yes, and for your flour? Do you
see that river? Do you know that Canada is the richest country in the
world in water power? And more than that, in the things essential to
national