in offices and stores
men discuss crop conditions and prospects as a matter of course. Amzi
owned a number of farms in different parts of the county, but this one
that had been long in the family was his particular pride. He paused now
and then to point out features of his possessions for Fred's admiration.

"Land," he observed reflectively, "is like a man or a horse; you got to
treat 'em right or they won't work. Thunder! You think you'll stick it
out over there, do you?"

"I've got to; and I want to! I want to make it go!"

Amzi glared at him a moment with puffed cheeks. Fred had spoken with
warmth, and being unfamiliar with the banker's habit of trying to blow
up occasionally, for no reason whatever, he was a little appalled by
Amzi's manner of receiving his declaration.

"If you mean it like that," said the banker, "you will make it go. It's
the wanting to do a thing real hard that brings it round. Is that
gospel?"

He blurted his question with a ferociousness that again startled Fred;
but he was beginning to suspect that this was the banker's usual way of
conversing, and his awe of him diminished. Amzi was an amusing person,
with a tang of his own; and he clearly meant to be kind. It was
necessary to answer the banker's last explosion and Fred replied
soberly:

"I hope it is; I hope the wanting to do it will help in the doing."

Amzi made no response to this. He seemed to ignore it, and spoke of
Perry admiringly, as the kind of man he liked, quoting statistics of the
wheat yield of the field they were traversing, and then stopped
abruptly.

"Thunder! How did they come to give you the farm?"

"I took it: I chose to take it. It was by an agreement between my
brother and sister and me. I'm not sure but that I got the best of the
partition. The stocks and bonds father left didn't mean anything to me.
I don't know anything about such things."

"They let you have the farm as your share; you were afraid of the other
stuff?"

"Yes; it didn't look very good and I was perfectly satisfied. I thought
the arrangement fair enough to me: Charlie knew about the other things
and I didn't. Most of them were very doubtful."

"They told you they were doubtful; you didn't know anything about them.
Was that the way of it?"

"Yes; that was about the way of it, Mr. Montgomery."

Amzi glared and drew out his handkerchief to mop his face.

"I saw an automobile come out of your place awhile ago and climb the
hill toward t