you think that I can do it?"

"I am not the one to think. You are. You know what the work is, what
it means. Can you do it?"

And Conniston stared long out across the wide sweep of the desert, his
lips set hard in white, bloodless lines, before he answered, briefly:

"Yes."

"It's a big job, Conniston, and, frankly, I wouldn't put it into your
hands if I had a man I thought better qualified to carry it on. A big
job! I wonder if you know how big? You will hold the whole fate of
this country in the palm of your hand, to make or to mar. You will
hold in the palm of your hand my whole life-work. For if you succeed I
succeed. And if you fail, all hope of reclamation here dies,
still-born, and I am a ruined man. Understand what you are to do? I
cannot even stay here to help you. I will leave to-night for Denver. I
can't send another man in my place. Would to God that I could! I must
go myself; I must raise money--fifty thousand dollars at the very
lowest figure. And when I come back I shall bring the money with me,
and I shall bring at least five hundred more men. And you will have to
oversee the work of seven hundred men then; you will have to drive
this ditch night and day; you will have to complete two big dams. And
you will have to do that before the first day of October. It is a big
job, Conniston. Can you do it?"

Conniston wet his dry lips and hesitated.

"Mr. Crawford, it is a big job. I do not even know that the thing is
possible. I believe that it is. I do not know, I cannot know, if I
can do it. I believe that I can. If you have a better man, if in
Denver or anywhere else you can find a better man, put him in
Truxton's place. If you can't, if you want me to go ahead with the
work, I'll do it."

"Then that is settled. Confer often with Tommy Garton. If you need
advice while I am away, go to him. But remember that in all things it
will be up to you to make the final decision. There can be no sharing
of responsibility."

"Then," said Conniston, with quiet decision, "I want an absolute and
unrestricted authority here. I want the power to take on new men, to
fire old men, to raise wages, to do what I think wise and best. I want
every man working for you to know that he is under my orders, and that
there is no recourse from my judgment. I want to be able to call upon
the Half Moon outfit, if I find it necessary, just as you would call
upon them."

"You are asking a great deal, Conniston."

"I am asking ev