" He opened the big canvas-bound book as he spoke and turned
the pages over. "Look at that for a page," he said, and Cameron glanced
over the entries. What a tale they told!
"Fire-fighting!"
"Yes," said the Commissioner, "that saved a settler's wife and child--a
prairie fire. The house was lost, but the constable pulled them out and
got rather badly burned in the business."
Cameron's finger ran down the page.
"Sick man transported to Post."
"That," commented the Superintendent, "was a journey of over two hundred
miles by dog sleighs in winter. Saved the man's life."
And so the record ran. "Cattle thieves arrested." "Whiskey smugglers
captured." "Stolen horses recovered." "Insane man brought to Post."
"That was rather a tough case," said the Commissioner. "Meant a journey
of some eight hundred miles with a man, a powerful man too, raving mad."
"How many of your men on that journey?" enquired Cameron.
"Oh, just one. The fellow got away twice, but was recaptured and finally
landed. Got better too. But the constable was all broken up for weeks
afterwards."
"Man, that was great!" exclaimed Cameron. "What a pity it should not be
known."
"Oh," said the Commissioner lightly, "it's all in the day's duty."
The words thrilled Cameron to the heart. "All in the day's duty!" The
sheer heroism of it, the dauntless facing of Nature's grimmest terrors,
the steady patience, the uncalculated sacrifice, the thought of all that
lay behind these simple words held him silent for many minutes as he
kept turning over the leaves.
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