e first time,
looked down at his fiddle, and idly picked at one of the strings. "But
of course I can't truthfully say I love manual labour. I can do it
when there is something in it; but I much prefer a hammock and a shade
and a little nigger to fan me and bring me tall glasses full of iced
drinks."

She laughed, for she knew already he had the reputation of being one of
the best workers in the valley.

"But this country has me," he added. "It fascinates me. When I make a
fortune over here I'm going across on the American side and buy a big
ranch.

"You know"--he continued softly to strum on the violin strings--"this
Imperial Valley seems to me like a magic spot of the tropics, some land
of fable. Richer than the valley of the Nile it has lain here beneath
the sea level for thousands of years, dead under the breath of the
desert, until a little trickle of water was turned in from the Colorado
River, and then it swiftly put forth such luxuriant wealth of food and
clothes and fruit and flowers that its story sounds like the demented
dreams of a bankrupt land promoter."

"I am glad you like it," she said, "and I hope you'll get your share of
the fabled wealth that it is supposed to grow--and, oh, yes, by the
way, do you happen to need another Chinaman?"

"No, I've got more than I can pay now."

"We are going to let Chang Lee go the last of the month. He's a good
Chinaman, and I wanted him to have a job."

"Why let him go?"

"We won't need him."

"Won't need him!" Bob exclaimed. "With a hundred and sixty acres of
cotton to irrigate and keep chopped out?"

"I can do a lot of the irrigating"--the girl spoke a little
evasively--"and daddy can manage the rest."

He knew this was another case of exhausted funds.

"Can't you borrow any more?"

She laughed a frank confession.

"You guessed it. We haven't money to pay him. I've borrowed six
hundred on the crop, and can't get another dollar."

He sat silent for several minutes looking off toward the cotton fields
that would cry for water to-morrow in their fight against the eternal
desert that brooded over this valley, thinking of her pluck. It made
him ashamed of any wavering thought that ever scouted through his own
mind.

He stood up. "And are you going to see it through?"

Alone beside the field as the moon rose she had wavered in doubt; but
the answer came now with perfect assurance.

"Most surely."

"So am I," he said. "Good-night."

Bu