s various registration points, would
require a small army to handle. It was one of the most gigantic
governmental programs ever known. Notaries had to be appointed to take
care of the affidavits, land locators selected to show the seekers the
land, accommodations provided for the 115,000 who registered in that
Drawing.

Even the Brule was crowded with people ready to play their luck in the
land lottery. Every available corner was utilized for sleeping space,
and the store at Ammons did a record business that would help pay the
wholesale bills at Martin's store. Ida Mary was busy taking care of
postal duties, handling increased mail, government notices, etc.

During the summer our financial condition had gone from bad to worse.

"Do you know those Ammons girls?" one native westerner asked another.
"Came out from St. Louis, about as big as my Annie (Annie was about
twelve); head wranglers out on the Lower Brule, newspaper, trading post,
whole works."

"Well, they'll last till their money is gone."

And it was about gone! "What are we going to do to meet these payments,
Edith?" Ida Mary asked one day in a breathing spell. There wasn't enough
money to pay for groceries, printing equipment, interest, etc.

If we could only hold on, the proof notices would bring in $2000 or
more, which was big money out there. But the proof season was almost a
year ahead, and the money had already been pledged.

Profit and loss! My head ached. I felt as though I had been hit on the
head by 200 square miles of Brule sod. Ma Wagor offered us a way out of
one of our difficulties. She'd always wanted a store. She liked the
"confusement." So we turned the store over to the Wagors', lock, stock
and barrel--prunes and molasses, barrels of coal-oil and vinegar,
padlocks on the doors. They had no money, but Ma wanted it as much as we
wanted to be rid of it, so it was a satisfactory deal. They were to pay
us on a percentage basis. We still had a claim, a post office and a
newspaper to manage, and the Indian trade to handle.

"It looks as though the Ammons venture is going under," people were
beginning to say. I went to Presho and the small towns near by, and,
somewhat to my own surprise, succeeded in getting more advertising for
_The Wand_. But it wasn't enough.

One night I came home, determined that something must be done. The whole
arrangement seemed to me unfair to Ida Mary. "Sister," I said, "I'm
going to give up the claim."

She quiet