ct myself too much to take orders from Sorenson and his
bunch. I choose this sort of thing in preference."

Steele Weir maintained a non-committal silence. Again the thin
dark-skinned lawyer swiftly weighed the man before him, considered the
dangers in which he might become involved if he went a step farther,
recoiled, then grew bolder. Sorenson had marked him for poverty and
nonentity; under the favoring shelter of the irrigation company's
power he might arise from both. For at moments the acute Mexican
sensed the inevitable victory of the new forces at work; this, one of
the last strong-holds of old time cattle and sheep interests, would
break down and yield to the plow and fence.

"Now, there's something more, though I hesitate to mention it," he
went on, doubtfully. "While Sorenson and his crowd run things, it's
not because the people--and that means us Mexicans chiefly--love them.
We're indolent by nature; we idle rather than work; borrow when we can
rather than earn--I speak of our race, but we're learning that work
proves best in the long run. These men have squeezed my people, and
robbed them, and kept them down. Nothing more would I wish than to see
these leaders deposed. It's no secret they've built their wealth by
questionable methods, but who can prove it?

"Do you know what I suspect? You have something on Sorenson's crowd.
That's why they're uneasy; that's why the four are sitting over in the
cattle company's office this minute with their heads together, meeting
the minute Sorenson arrives home. I saw them go in. Leaving aside the
question of your own affairs, I'd like to have matters changed here in
this county so that every man has a fair chance. Anything that will
bring that about enlists my interest. When I heard your statement to
Gordon and saw his face, I knew there was something in the past that
alarmed him. I recalled a name I had once run across when abstracting
a title----"

It was not this ingenious twisting of the truth that caused the lawyer
to become filled with sudden dismay and stop, but the savage hardening
of the engineer's face.

"Go on," Weir commanded.

"Well, the name was Joseph Weir. I looked it up again to be sure, and
found the property had been deeded to Sorenson and the others, who
still have it. I wondered----"

"What did you wonder?" came with a devouring look.

"If--if Joseph Weir received consideration according to law."
Martinez' courage flowed back again. "I'll ma