“You’d be a millionaire,” said Gregson.

“Not only that,” replied Philip, pausing for a moment in his restless pacing.  “I didn’t think of money, at first; at least, it was a secondary consideration after that night beside the camp-fire.  I saw how this big vacant north could be made to strike a mighty blow at those interests which make a profession of cornering meatstuffs on the other side, how it could be made to fight the fight of the people by sending down an unlimited supply of fish that could be sold at a profit in New York, Boston, or Chicago for a half of what the trust demands.  My scheme wasn’t aroused entirely by philanthropy, mind you.  I saw in it a chance to get back at the very people who brought about my father’s ruin, and who kept pounding him after he was in a corner until he broke down and died.  They killed him.  They robbed me a few years later.  They made me hate what I was once, a moving, joyous part of—­life down there.  I went from the north, first to Ottawa, then to Toronto and Winnipeg.  After that I went to Brokaw, my father’s old partner, with the scheme.  I’ve told you of Brokaw—­one of the deepest, shrewdest old fighters in the Middle West.  It was only a year after my father’s death that he was on his feet again, as strong as ever.  Brokaw drew in two or three others as strong as himself, and we went after the privileges.  It was a fight from the beginning.  Hardly were our plans made public before we were met by powerful opposition.  A combination of Canadian capital quickly organized and petitioned for the same privileges.  Old Brokaw knew what it meant.  It was the hand of the trust—­disguised under a veneer of Canadian promoters.  They called us ’aliens’—­American ‘money-grabbers’ robbing Canadians of what justly belonged to them.  They aroused two-thirds of the press against us, and yet—­”

The lines in Whittemore’s face softened.  He chuckled as he pulled out his pipe and began filling it.

“They had to go some to beat the old man, Greggy.  I don’t know just how Brokaw pulled the thing off, but I do know that when we won out three members of parliament and half a dozen other politicians were honorary members of our organization, and that it cost Brokaw a hundred thousand dollars!  Our opponents had raised such a howl, calling upon the patriotism of the country and pointing out that the people of the north would resent this invasion of foreigners, that we succeeded in getting only a provisional license, subject to withdrawal by the government at any time conditions seemed to warrant it.  I saw in this no blow to my scheme, for I was certain that we could carry the thing along on such a square basis that within a year the whole country would be in sympathy with us.  I expressed my views with enthusiasm at our final meeting, when the seven of us met to complete our plans.  Brokaw and the other five were to direct matters in the south; I was to have full command of affairs in the north.  A month