pictures hanging on the rough whitewashed wall.

It was a poor home, but the lamplight revealed no discontent in the
faces around the table. True, the mother's was a little pinched and
careworn, which gave the yet beautiful face a sharp expression; but the
other two countenances shone with health and happiness. The girl was
enjoying her supper, the bright sagebrush fire, and the story book by
the side of her bowl, all at the same time. She dipped, alternately,
into her bowl and into her book.

The boy was the man of that family. He had combed his hair well back,
and his bright, honest face gleamed in the light. He was big and strong,
hardened by constant toil, matured beyond his years by the
responsibility which had been placed upon him since his father's death,
now four years ago. In answer to his mother's inquiries, Rupert
explained:

"You see, the cows had strayed up Dry Holler, an' I had an awful time a
findin' them. I couldn't hear any bell, neither. Dry Holler creek is
just boomin', an' there's a big lake up there now. The water has washed
out a hole in the bank and has gone into Dry Basin, an' it's backed up
there till now it's a lake as big as Brown's pond. As I stood and looked
at the running water an' the pond, somethin' came into my
head--somethin' I heard down town last summer. An' mother, _we_ must do
it!"

The boy was glowing with some exciting thought. His mother looked at him
while his sister neglected both book and bowl.

"Do what, Rupert?"

"Why, we must have Dry Basin, an' I'll make a reservoir out of it, an'
we'll have water in the summer for our land, an' it'll be just the
thing. With a little work the creek can be turned into the Basin
which'll fill up during the winter an' spring. There's a low place which
we'll have to bank up, an' the thing's done. The ditch'll be the biggest
job, but I think we can get some help on that--but we must have the land
up in Dry Holler now before someone else thinks of it an' settles on it.
Mother, I was just wonderin' why someone hasn't thought of this before."

The mother was taken by surprise. She sat and looked wonderingly at the
boy as he talked. The idea was new to her, but now she thought of it, it
seemed perfectly feasible. Work was the only thing needed; but could she
and her boy do it?

Five years ago when Mr. Ames had moved upon the bench, he had been
promised that the new canal should come high enough to bring water to
his land; but a new survey