ou to keep your eye open for a buyer. Forty
thousand dollars takes the whole thing as a goin' concern, an' the
more cash the better. Get a line on a buyer if you can, and if I send
you word to sell, see, you sell, and if I don't send you word, don't
do anythin'. You understand?"

"I think I understand you perfectly," said the lawyer, who was also a
dealer in real estate. Indeed, since the activity in farm lands had
commenced he might be said to be a real estate dealer who was also a
lawyer. "Not many buyers have that much ready cash, Mr. Harris, but
it could no doubt be arranged to sell your agreement, or raise a
mortgage on the property, that would give you the whole amount in
your hand." Bradshaw, along with his other pursuits, was agent for a
mortgage company, and always valued two commissions higher than one.

The lawyer wrote something on a sheet of paper. "This is a power of
attorney, which will enable me to complete the documents without the
delay of sending them to you, if you should decide to sell," he
explained. Harris signed the paper, and Allan witnessed it.

With this understanding the journey westward was undertaken, and
completed without event of importance. As his daughter had done a few
weeks before, and his wife still later, Harris spent a few hours in
the young city just beginning to stir itself on the sleepy, sunny
slopes where the prairies ran into the foothills, stretching one last
long tongue far up the valley of the Bow and lapping at the feet of
the eternal snows. His original plan had been to spend a day or two
in Calgary, "sizing up" the land situation for himself before joining
Riles, but the possibilities of the coal mine speculation had grown
upon him with every mile of the journey. He had only to use his ears
to hear of so many men, apparently no more capable men than he and
Allan, who had grown suddenly rich from fortunate investments. It was
a case of recognizing the opportunity when it presented itself, and
having the nerve to seize it without hesitation. He found himself now
in a country and an atmosphere where "playing safe" was somewhat to a
man's discredit--where the successful man was the man who dared to
throw discretion to the winds and take the chance. And because money,
not earned in the country, was pouring in from outside, and by its
own buoyancy raising the price of land and labour, the chance, even
the foolish chance, was likely to turn out to advantage and justify
the d