"and you've got a chance to make something if you gobble up a corner lot
or two before prices soar. Quick turns while the boom is on is the way
to do it in the West."

Mudge believed all that he said, because he believed in Symes; that is,
he was convinced that all would be as he represented as soon as Symes
could be provided with money to complete the project, and if he
permitted his imagination to take liberties with the truth, it was
solely because he felt that the end justified the means. He assured
himself that all would be forgotten and forgiven in the ultimate success
of the enterprise and so great was his faith in it and its efficient
management that his own money paid for the pamphlets and the half-page
newspaper advertisements which told the world of the Homeseekers'
Excursion to the great Symes Irrigation Project where the desert was
blooming like the rose. If at times there came to him, as there did to
Symes, chilling thoughts of the exact meaning of failure should their
plans miscarry, he did not allow them to long dampen his ardor.

"We'll put it through _somehow_!" he declared vehemently. "There'll be a
trainload of these Homeseekers, and, out of a bunch like that, surely
_some_ of 'em will stick even if it isn't--well--not quite exactly in
the shape they expect to find it. They'll see the merits of the
proposition and make allowances for my enthusiasm; and if we can work
this once we can work it again." Mudge insisted to himself resolutely,
"I'm not the man to be stumped by a few obstacles, I can't afford to be
identified with failures and we'll put this thing through if S. B. Mudge
goes broke trying."

The stock and bondholders had something of the attitude of blase
spectators at a circus, regarding Mudge's sensational efforts calmly,
without applause or protest. A curious attitude, Mudge thought, for
persons so vitally concerned, and there were times, after a chance
meeting with Prescott, for instance, when Mudge wondered if they really
were as indifferent as they seemed. That Prescott had an amazing
knowledge of the situation for one in a position to know so little was
evidenced by an occasional pertinent comment. But Mudge was too busy
getting his Homeseekers in line to attempt the solution of any mysteries
on the side.

In Crowheart the coming excursion of Homeseekers was the chief theme.
Its citizens were elated at the wide publicity which the Company's
advertising campaign was giving to the t