be right down," said Bob.

Jim Crill was sitting in a corner of the hotel office when Rogeen came
down; and he motioned to Bob to take the chair beside him.

"Notice a cotton gin being built across the line?" the old gentleman
asked, crossing his legs and thrusting his hands into his trousers
pockets.

"Yes," Bob nodded. "I wondered if you had."

"Reckon I have," remarked Crill, dryly. "I'm puttin' up the money for
it."

"You are?" Bob was surprised. This upset his suspicions in regard to
that gin.

"Yes; don't you think it's a good investment?" The old gentleman's
keen blue eyes looked searchingly from under the shaggy brows at Rogeen.

"Lots of cotton raised over there," Bob answered, noncommittally. "And
the Mexicans really ought to have a gin on their side of the line."

The old gentleman cleared his throat as though about to say something
else; and then changed his mind and sat frowning in silence so long Bob
wondered why he had sent for him.

"Lots of cotton raisers 'll go broke this fall." Crill broke the
silence abruptly.

"Already are," replied Bob.

"Know what it means." The old gentleman jerked his head up and down.
"Hauled my last bale of five-cent cotton to the store many a time, and
begged 'em to let the rest of my bill run another year. That was
before I ran the store myself; and then struck oil on a patch of Texas
land. Haven't got as much money as folks think but too much to let lie
around idle. Think this valley is a good place to invest, don't you?"
Again the searching blue eyes peered at the young man.

"I certainly do," answered Bob with conviction. "The soil is
bottomless; it will grow anything and grow it all the year."

"If it gets water," added the old gentleman.

"Of course--but we had plenty of water this year. And," went on Bob,
"this war is not going to smash the cotton market forever. It's going
to smash most of us who have no money to hold on with. But next spring
or next summer or a year after, sooner or later, prices will begin to
climb. The war will decrease production more than it will consumption.
The war demands will send the price of wool up, and when wool goes up
it pulls cotton along with it. Cotton will go to twenty cents, maybe
more."

"That sounds like sense." The old gentleman nodded slowly. "And it is
the fellow that is a year ahead that gets rich on the rise; and the
fellow a year behind that gets busted on the drop in prices."

"Th