Running a Sawmill and a Store Up Country. 285 



Bale, however, did not forget my churlish reprimand quite so 

 readily, and paid me back a day or two later in the following 

 amusing manner. 



It was Sunday morning, when the men lay off until noon. I 

 was attending to postal matters for the Government had heaped 

 insult upon injury by making me Postmaster at Grohman at the 

 regal salary of 4dols. a month and the store was full of men. 

 Awaiting his opportunity, Bale presently approached me, and in 

 his good-natured way commenced conversation respecting the topic 

 that of course lay nearest my heart, i.e., the lock construction. 

 Breaking off, presently, he said : 



" Say, Boss, I had a mighty funny dream last night, all about 

 the canal and you and miracles ! " 



"Well, Bale, let's have your dream; if it was about the canal 

 and miracles it's sure to be interesting." 



" Well, Boss, I dreamt that I was dead, and that I was being 

 interviewed by old Nick himself. ' Bale/ says he, ' you are a 

 damned good chap; I have heard of you before up at Grohman, 

 and I want you to see what kind of a show I run down here, so 

 you can just ask me to do the most difficult thing you can think 

 of, and it will be done before you have time to wink those goggle 

 eyes of yours.' Well, I kinder thought for a minute or two, and 

 then said : ' Say, old gent, take up yonder Rocky Mountains and 

 dump them where those Selkirks are, and put the Selkirks where 

 the old Baldies were.' And before I had finished, the job was 

 done, and no mistake about it." 



" ' You have got to try something harder to stump this child,' 

 said old Nick ; so I axed him to make the water out of the 

 Columbia lake climb up the canal into the Kootenay, and hardly 

 were the words out of my mouth when a big wave came a-busting 

 up the canal, climbing over the lock works, and rolling on as gay 

 as you please till she fetched up in the old Kootenay." 



" ' That's nothing,' says the old gentleman, good-humoured like, 

 ' can't you think of something harder than making water climb 

 upstairs?' Well, I sets to and turns it over in my mind, and says 



