At the end of this time, Austin lighted his
pipe, which had gone out, and took a turn or two up and down the room.
Then he paused suddenly in front of Roger and said, "Why don't you go
down into Arizona and put up a small pumping plant as an experiment for
the Smithsonian? I know this is not the large way, the commercial way,
but I am convinced that this is the careful, practical way. Your friend
Wolf tells me that the most popular reason given by the business houses
you've visited for turning you down has been that you've never actually
erected a working plant. Why not try it for us? Then you'll be in a
position to talk business."

Roger, his face a still deeper red, looked from Austin to Ernest and
back again. He relighted his pipe with fingers that shook.

"How big a plant?" he asked huskily.

"Big enough to irrigate about twenty-five acres of desert for alfalfa.
I'm convinced that when you actually undertake to put such a plant in
operation, you'll realize that there are details to be remade that you
never dreamed of, on paper."

Roger did not speak for a moment. Five years ago he would have refused
such an offer as this, without hesitation. It was very different, this,
from turning out say a thousand units in six months. Yet, so long had
hope been deferred that Roger hesitated, not for lack of enthusiasm for
Austin's offer, but because the sudden joy that rose within him made it
difficult to speak. Finally he turned to Ernest, who was watching him
with a look of inexpressible satisfaction in his beautiful eyes.

"Will you go with me, Ern?"

"The family will kick, but I'm going," answered Ernest.

"What are the terms, Dr. Austin?" asked Roger.

"We'll buy all machinery and apparatus and pay for labor and living up
to ten thousand dollars."

Roger could not believe that his sterile years of endeavor and
disappointment were to bring forth even this small fruit. He laid his
pipe down, picked it up, then said, "I can't tell you what this
opportunity means to me. It's--it's my work, you see, and--and--"

"That's all right," Austin spoke hastily. "When can you start? I know
exactly the spot in Arizona that we would wish you to go to--Archer's
Springs. Have you a map of Arizona?"

"Yes, some of the Geological Survey maps," said Ernest, opening up a
chart case.

"Here's the spot." Austin put his pencil on the map. "It's about twenty
miles north of the railroad, a mining country, but we've always believed
tha