Some railways in the wealthy country to the south were, for various reasons, going into the hands of the receivers during the construction period of the Canadian Pacific. So that, despite the consummate ability of the Canadian Pacific financiers, it is small wonder that the Company saw bankruptcy looming up ahead. Even Stephen and Shaughnessy could not make bricks without straw. And all the time Van Horne was driving ahead with construction at top speed. He knew the situation, but declared that any stoppage or even slackening up would lead to the Company being pounced on by creditors, who would wind it up. His view was that the whole undertaking must be kept alive as a hopeful, going enterprise, and that its position would improve immensely when it, refusing to acknowledge defeat, spanned the continent to the Western seas. Even then, Van Horne, as after events proved, had his eye on trade with the Orient as a great feeder to the road. So he went ahead, and let the others find the money, though at times he took a hand, in his trenchant way, in letting the Government know what he thought of the whole situation. It was late in 1883 when the Canadian Pacific, which had been keeping the facts before the Government at Ottawa, made formal application for a loan of twenty-two and a-half millions to ward off failure. The situation was desperate, but the Government, which had a lively recollection of the fight put up against the original contract, was afraid to risk defeat by granting the request. The security offered for the loan was to all appearance ample, as it included a lien on the Company’s main line, the branch lines in Manitoba, and the unpledged land grant. In addition they gave the astonishing pledge that they would clip five years off the contract term and finish the road in 1886. Sir John Macdonald, who always kept his hand on the public pulse, knew that people in the East were being persuaded by the Parliamentary Opposition that the West was being developed at the expense of the East. Men in his own cabinet and many of his supporters in the House, were being infected with that idea, despite all efforts to make them see that, in the long run, the development of the West would be an immense gain to the East. Sir John, with the prospect of a divided cabinet, possible defection amongst his own followers in the House, as well as the bitter attitude of the Opposition and the likelihood of a revolt in the country against the granting of the loan, was indisposed to yield. Things looked black for the Canadian Pacific. Stephen was utterly discouraged after interviews with Sir John, and it was on one of those occasions that he was giving up and leaving Ottawa for Montreal when Senator Frank Smith prevailed on him to wait over till they would have a midnight interview with Sir John. Even that interview seemed fruitless till Mr. John Henry Pope went to Sir John and told him that if the loan was not granted, the