, leaned towards him
confidentially when he spoke again.

"I don't mind admitting that I'm taking a hand in a big bear operation,"
he said. "It's rather outside my usual business, but the thing looks
almost certain."

Hawtrey glanced at him with a gleam in his eyes. There was no doubt that
the prospect of acquiring money by an easier method than toiling in the
rain and wind appealed to him.

"If it's good enough for you it should be safe," he remarked. "The
trouble is that I've nothing to put in."

"Then you're not empowered to lay out Wyllard's money. If that was the
case it shouldn't be difficult to pile up a bigger margin than you're
likely to do by farming."

Hawtrey started, for the idea had already crept into his mind.

"In a way, I am, but I'm not sure that I'm warranted in operating on the
market with it."

"Have you the arrangement you made with him in writing?"

Hawtrey opened a drawer, and Edmonds betrayed no sign of the
satisfaction he felt when he was handed an informally worded document.
He perused it carefully, and it seemed to him that it constituted
Hawtrey a partner in the Range, which was satisfactory. He looked up
thoughtfully.

"Now," he said, "while I naturally can't tell what Wyllard contemplated,
this paper certainly gives you power to do anything you think advisable
with his money. In any case, I understand that he can't be back until
well on in next year."

"I shouldn't expect him until late in the summer, anyway."

There was silence for a moment or two, and during it Hawtrey's face grew
set. It was unpleasant to look forward to the time when he would be
required to relinquish the charge of the Range, and of late he had been
wondering how he could make the most of the situation. Then Edmonds
spoke again.

"It's almost certain that the operation I suggested can result only one
way, and it appears most unlikely that Wyllard would raise any trouble
if you handed him several thousand dollars over and above what you had
made by farming. I can't imagine a man objecting to that kind of thing."

Hawtrey sat still with indecision in his eyes for half a minute, and
Edmonds, who was too wise to say anything, leaned back in his chair.
Then Hawtrey turned to the drawer again with an air of sudden
resolution.

"I'll give you a check for a couple of thousand dollars, which is as far
as I care to go just now," he announced with studied carelessness.

He took a pen, and Edmonds watched him w