rmers. And he ain't easy
talked into a new scheme, either."

"D'ye suppose we could sell the farm?" The idea of a big, profitable
speculation suddenly appealed to Allan with much greater force than
the prospect of three years on a homestead. He knew that vast sums of
money had been made, and made quickly, in the Far West, but he had
never before thought of himself or his father sharing in this sudden
wealth. They had worked hard for their money, and took it as a matter
of course that they should continue to work hard for it. But the
vision of quick riches, the prospect of realizing it in his own
person, the dizzy thought that Fortune, which had seemed to move in a
circle quite apart from his existence, might actually now be within a
hand's reach--these intoxicated him with a sudden hope which burst
the old bounds of his imagination and set up new and wilder
ambitions.

"D'ye suppose we could sell the farm?" he repeated. It began to seem
that the short-cut to wealth hinged on the possibility of selling the
farm.

"I guess we could sell it, all right," said Harris. "Maybe not for
that much cash, but we can get cash on the agreement, if we need it."
He, too, found the inborn gaming instinct which cries out for money
without labour welling within him and surging up against his
long-established, sober judgment. But he was not a man to act
precipitately, or risk all on a single throw unless he were very,
very sure of the result.

"Of course, maybe it's all right," he continued. "But it's a good
thing to buy your buggy before you throw away your cart. If this
thing's as good as Riles says, it will keep until we can see it for
ourselves. If it don't, somethin' else'll turn up."

"Yes," said Allan, "but if we find it's all right when we get there,
and we've only a few measly hundred dollars along, we'll want to kick
ourselves all the way home. Lots of fellows are making big money just
because they had some capital to work with, and why shouldn't we do
it, too? Couldn't you fix it some way to get the money without coming
back, if everything looks all right? That'd save time, and expense
too."

"There's something in that. There's time to see Bradshaw yet before
the train comes. We'll kind o' leave it standin' in his hands."

They made a hurried call on Bradshaw, the lawyer, and asked him to be
on the look-out for a buyer for the farm.

"Mind, I'm not actu'lly puttin' it up for sale," Harris cautioned
him, "but I want y