Deep as this loyalty and pride in the soul of him there lay a cold suspicion of the Yankee.

He had met him in those old days of trade war, had suffered and had seen his Company suffer from his wiles, and finally had been compelled to witness with bitter but unavailing hate the steady encroachment of those rival traders upon the ancient prerogatives and preserves of his own Company, once the sole and undisputed lords of the northern half of the American continent.

In the person of Mr.Alvin P.Jones, McTavish saw the representative of those ancient enemies of his, and in the oration to which he had just listened he fancied he detected a note of disloyalty to the flag, a suggestion of a break in the allegiance of Canada to the Empire, and worst of all, a hint that Canada might safely depend for protection upon something other than the naval power which had guarded the shores of his country these many years from enemy invasion.

These things wrought in old McTavish an uncontrollable anger, and no sooner had the tumultuous applause died away than he was on his feet and in a high, rasping voice demanding audience.
"Will ye per-r-rmit me, Mr.Chair-r-rman, a few words in regar-r-d to the remarkable address to which we haf listened ?" Permission was graciously granted by the chairman, surprise and complaisant delight mantling the steaming face of Mr.Alvin P.Jones, albeit at his heart there lurked a certain uneasiness, for on more than one occasion had he suffered under the merciless heckling of the little Scotchman.
"'Tis a wonderful address we haf been hearing, an eloquent address.

Some of it iss true an' some of it iss lies [commotion in the audience--the smile on Mr.Alvin P.Jones's face slightly less expansive].