It was still winter of the year in which Van Horne had said he would build 500 miles of the road on the prairie. He had to wait for the spring’s approach; but meanwhile he was stacking up supplies at Winnipeg, “from the ends of the earth,” as people there said, and in enormous quantities—rails from Britain and the Continent, ties from the woods east of Winnipeg, stone from every available quarry within reach, lumber from the Minnesota country and from the Lake of the Woods. Much of this came in during the frozen months by rail from the south, and the yardmen in the States were delighted to send along whole trains of material for “Van Horne’s road” as they called it. The main thing was to get the stuff forward. And Van Horne kept the wires hot in seeing that there would be no delay. [Illustration: LORD SHAUGHNESSY LORD STRATHCONA (_Donald A. Smith_) LADY STRATHCONA _An Interesting Group_] He became suddenly the organizer of an army—not for destruction, but for construction—a great mobile force which was to move steadily forward under the direction of his genius and daring. That army was to use high explosives and unbounded physical energy, but it was with a purpose to enrich and not to devastate the country. It was to use ploughshares instead of swords, but its victories were to be certain and enduring. The fight was to be hot and at times the line would waver, but there would be no retreat. It will be interesting to follow that army with two such leaders as Van Horne as the master builder and Shaughnessy as the matchless provider of supplies. CHAPTER IX Crossing the Prairie