CHAPTER I.THE MAZARINES TAKE POSSESSION.
From the beginning, Askatoon had had more character and idiosyncrasy than any other town in the West.

Perhaps that was because many of its citizens had marked personality, while some were distinctly original--a few so original as to be almost bizarre.

The general intelligence was high, and this made the place alert for the new observer.

It slept with one eye open; it waked with both eyes wide--as wide as the windows of the world.

The virtue of being bright and clever was a doctrine which had never been taught in Askatoon; it was as natural as eating and drinking.