my father, for whose good sense and practical knowledge we had the
greatest respect, and of course we were all attention at once, when,
seating himself in his desk chair, he began:

"You remember that when Marsden's cattle first came they broke a couple
of the posts around the hay-corral, and that when we re-set them we
found that the butt-ends of the posts were beginning to get pretty
rotten?"

He happened to catch Joe's eye, who replied:

"I remember; and you said at the time that we should have to renew the
fence entirely in two years or less."

"Exactly. Well, now, this is what I've been thinking: instead of
renewing with posts and poles, why not build a rough stone wall all
round the present fence, which, when once done, would last forever?
Within a half-mile of the corral there is material in plenty fallen from
the face of the Second Mesa; and everything on the ranch being in good
working order, you two boys would be free to put in several weeks
hauling stones and dumping them outside the fence--the actual building I
would leave till next fall. It will mean a long spell of pretty hard
work, for you will hardly gather material enough if you keep at it all
the rest of the winter. Now, what do you think?"

"It seems to me like a good plan," Joe answered. "We can take two teams
and wagons, help each other to load, drive down together, and help each
other to unload; for I suppose you would use stones as big as we can
handle by preference."

"Yes, the bigger the better; especially for the lower courses and for
the corners. What's your opinion, Phil?"

"I agree with Joe," I replied. "And with such a short haul--for it will
average nearer a quarter than half a mile--I should think we might even
collect stones enough for the purpose this winter, provided there
doesn't come a big fall of snow and stop us."

"Then you shall begin to-morrow," said my father.

"But here's another question," he continued. "Should we build the wall
close around the present fence, or should we increase the size of the
corral while we are about it?"

"I should keep to the present dimensions," said I. "There is no chance
that I see of our ever increasing the size of our hay-crop to any great
extent, and the corral we have now has always held it all, even that
very big crop we had the summer Joe came. If----"

"Yes, 'if,'" my father interrupted, knowing very well what I had in
mind. "_If_ we could drain 'the bottomless forty rods' we s