sake of two
hundred feet of pipe. Wouldn't that jar you?"

"Oh, I ain't done yet. They's a bath-tub an' stationary tubs a-comin'
soon as I can see my way. An', say, Saxon, you know that little clear
flat just where Wild Water runs into Sonoma. They's all of an acre of
it. An' it's mine! Got that? An' no walkin' on the grass for you. It'll
be my grass. I 'm goin' up stream a ways an' put in a ram. I got a big
second-hand one staked out that I can get for ten dollars, an' it'll
pump more water'n I need. An' you'll see alfalfa growin' that'll make
your mouth water. I gotta have another horse to travel around on. You're
usin' Hazel an' Hattie too much to give me a chance; an' I'll never see
'm as soon as you start deliverin' vegetables. I guess that alfalfa'll
help some to keep another horse goin'."

But Billy was destined for a time to forget his alfalfa in the
excitement of bigger ventures. First, came trouble. The several
hundred dollars he had arrived with in Sonoma Valley, and all his own
commissions since earned, had gone into improvements and living. The
eighteen dollars a week rental for his six horses at Lawndale went to
pay wages. And he was unable to buy the needed saddle-horse for his
horse-buying expeditions. This, however, he had got around by again
using his head and killing two birds with one stone. He began breaking
colts to drive, and in the driving drove them wherever he sought horses.

So far all was well. But a new administration in San Francisco, pledged
to economy, had stopped all street work. This meant the shutting down of
the Lawndale quarry, which was one of the sources of supply for paving
blocks. The six horses would not only be back on his hands, but he would
have to feed them. How Mrs. Paul, Gow Yum, and Chan Chi were to be paid
was beyond him.

"I guess we've bit off more'n we could chew," he admitted to Saxon.

That night he was late in coming home, but brought with him a radiant
face. Saxon was no less radiant.

"It's all right," she greeted him, coming out to the barn where he was
unhitching a tired but fractious colt. "I've talked with all three. They
see the situation, and are perfectly willing to let their wages stand a
while. By another week I start Hazel and Hattie delivering vegetables.
Then the money will pour in from the hotels and my books won't look
so lopsided. And--oh, Billy--you'd never guess. Old Gow Yum has a bank
account. He came to me afterward--I guess he was think