ll have
everything complete or you can't do a blessed thing with 'em. It don't
mean anything to you; you've made her a fair give-or-take offer."

"Yes, of course I have," Welborne said, conquering his qualms, and with
a quivering hand he signed the paper. He had no sooner done it than
Henley laid it face downward on a blotting-pad and, with a steady hand,
stroked its back. The eyes he fixed on Dixie, who was covertly watching
him, fairly danced as he raised the paper and folded it carefully.

"Now, you two have got the proposition down in fair legal shape, and
nothing stands between you and a deal. Miss Dixie, you are just a woman,
and may not know the ways of the business world, so I want to tell you
on my honor that this is what all fair-minded men call an absolutely
straight proposition, and when you've acted on it, it would be wrong for
you to ever say anybody coerced you or took advantage of you. You
understand that you've got a right either to pay eight hundred and own
the farm, or take eight hundred and sell your half. Is that plain to
you?"

"Yes, I understand it perfectly," Dixie answered, glancing first at him
and then at the expectant and suave money-lender.

"And you understand it, too, don't you, Mr. Welborne?"

"Yes, I understand it," the eager old man replied, craftily. "And you
know, Alf Henley, that I wouldn't have made as liberal an offer to
anybody but this girl. She's in a tight fix and needs the money, and the
farm has gone down to less 'n half of what it was worth when me and her
bought it."

"Well, then, Miss Dixie," Henley said, significantly, and he held the
paper tightly in his strong hand, "you'll have to decide which thing you
intend to do."

"I've already decided," the girl said, looking at Welborne with a placid
stare, "and I'm going to be satisfied. I know the farm isn't any good
now, and will perhaps be lower when the railroad is built the other side
of the mountain, but it is the only home we have, and I've decided to
buy it."

"_Buy_ it?" Welborne gasped, and stared as if unable to grasp her
meaning. "You don't mean that you--"

"Well, well!" Henley cried, "this _is_ a surprise. Here I've been rowing
you up Salt River for your puny little debt to me, and you now say you
are able to own a big chunk of real estate unencumbered. Why, you must
have struck oil somewhere. My, my, my!"

"I don't tell my business to everybody." Dixie, now standing, had thrust
her hand into the pock