was actually upon it, but was it out of the question?

In his desperation Symes decided that it was not.

Casually imparting the information to the Crowheart _Courier_ that he
was going out to meet a party of millionaires who were anxious to
invest, Symes packed his suitcase and arrived in the State Capital as
soon as an express train could get him there.

When he appeared before the State Land Board the arguments he used to
that body never were made public, but they were sufficiently convincing
to enable him to send a guarded telegram to Mudge that night telling him
to prepare additional literature and commence a campaign of
advertisement. Also to arrange with the railroad for a Homeseekers'
Excursion at as early a date as possible.

The telegram restored Mudge's faith in Symes, revived his waning
enthusiasm and courage. He composed a pamphlet for distribution among
Eastern and Middle West farmers, from which he quoted extracts to his
wife in the middle of the night, awakening her for that purpose.

"Extend a hand to Nature and she meets you with outstretched arms!
Tickle the soil and it laughs gold!"

"Wouldn't that start a man-milliner to raising alfalfa?" demanded Mudge
upon such occasions.

"Where the clouds never lower and the sun shines always. Where the
perfumed zephyrs fan the cheeks of men and brothers. The Perfect Climate
found at last! Crowheart the Gem of the Rockies! within easy reach. Buy
a ticket for $29.50 and breathe the Elixir of Life while you look over
our unequalled proposition."

"That ought to catch all the lungers in the world," averred Mudge.

That the promoter's confidence in the merits of his pamphlet was
justified was soon evidenced by the flood of inquiries and requests for
additional information which came by mail while his office became a
mecca for the restless and the "land hungry" who read his vivid
description of the great Symes irrigation project which was making the
desert bloom like the rose.

They came in droves to ask questions and to stare at the twenty-pound
beet which sat conspicuously upon Mudge's desk and their jaws dropped
when he explained carelessly--

"A runt from under the Mormon ditch; we raise bigger on _our_ land."

They studied the map of the neatly plotted townsite of Symes with its
substantial bank building, its park, its boulevards, its public school
building and band-stand.

"That's goin' to be some town," Mudge told each with a confidential air,