hat are we
going to do about the food problem, Ern? All the cotton-tails and quail
that Gustav shoots, won't keep us much longer."

"Do you suppose Hackett would let us run a bill with him and take a
mortgage on the outfit here as security? Of course, I haven't any right
to give a mortgage but I'll explain the whole situation to him."
Roger's voice had a desperate note in it.

"Well, that is worth the try, eh?" said Gustav. "Me, I might borrow a
little yet, from a friend in the East."

"You'll do nothing of the kind, Gustav," exclaimed Roger. "You're far
from home and you may need all your borrowing power for yourself--not
but what I appreciate your offer, old man!"

"I've got a little--my fare home and about a hundred beside," offered
Elsa.

"Keep it, old girl," Roger's voice was husky. "By Jove, I may be poor in
everything else, but I'm rich in friends. Ern, what do you think of my
suggestion?"

"Well, I hate debt worse than anything in the world. But we're in this
thing up to our necks and I'm willing to try anything that's honest. If
Hackett knows the whole story--"

"He knows it now, I guess, but I'll give him all the details. I may as
well go in to-day and get a yes or no at once."

"I'll go," said Ernest. "I'd like to and you'd better not lose a day."

Roger nodded in a relieved manner.

"Listen! There goes the Lemon!" exclaimed Elsa. "I do hope she goes
to-day."

"Put! Put!" came over the desert. "Put! Put! Put!"

"I guess she's launched and I've got a clear day for work." Roger rose
as he spoke. "Dick's having a struggle to get enough water for that
second five acres of his. He insists that he's going ahead with the next
five, though."

"Elsa, want to go into Archer's with me?" asked Ernest.

"Sorry, Ern, but I'm going to help Charley can pumpkins to-day. She
planted some for luck up by the engine house where the pump leaks, you
remember, and the crop is wonderful."

"Oh, well, if you prefer pumpkins to me and Archer's Springs, I've
nothing to say," groaned Ernest.

"I'll go," offered Gustav. "I haf letters and other things."

Ernest accepted the offer with alacrity. He was beginning to recover
some of his old spirits but he had not been himself since Charley's
refusal. Roger had never known Ernest to take one of his affairs quite
so hard before. He dreaded to be alone and was often moody: a rare state
of mind for easy going Ernest.

The two men made a quick and successful trip to Archer