that he was the master mind of Ames farm. And then the neighbors came to
him for advice, and older and presumably wiser men counseled with him,
and so it suggested itself to Rupert that he was the master mind of all
Dry Bench besides. Everybody called him a "rustler." When he had leisure
for school, he was beyond school age; so, nothing daunted, he set out to
study by himself. He procured the necessary books, and went to them with
an energy that made up for the lack of a teacher. Nina kept pace with
him for a time, but the ungraded village school curriculum was too slow
for Rupert; and when one spring the young reservoir projector appeared
at the county teachers' examination and passed creditably, all, as he
said "just for fun and practice," the people talked again--and elected
him to the board of trustees.

A beautiful spring morning dawned on Dry Bench. A cool breeze came from
the mountains and played with the young leaves of the orchard. The
apricots were white with blossoms, and the plums and peaches were just
bursting into masses of pink and white. The alfalfa and wheat fields
were beautifully green. Blessed Morning, what a life promoter, what a
dispeller of fears and bringer of hopes, thou art!

Rupert was out early. After tossing some hay to the horses and cows, he
shouldered his shovel and strode up the ditch, whistling as he went. His
straw hat set well back on his head. His blue "jumper" met the blue
overalls which were tucked into a pair of heavy boots. His tune was a
merry one and rang out over the still fields and up to the hills.

Rupert's thoughts were a mixture that morning, and flew from one thing
to another: the ditch which he was to clean and repair; the condition of
the reservoir; the meeting of the school board; the planting of the
garden; the dance at the hall in town; the wonderful spreading
properties of weeds--so on from one subject to another, until he came to
a standstill, leaning on his shovel and looking over his farm and down
to the town, fast growing into a city. From a hundred chimneys smoke was
beginning to come, befouling the clear air of the valley.

"It is a beautiful sight," said he to himself. "Six years ago and what
was it? Under whose hand has this change grown? Mine. I have done most
of the work, and I can lawfully claim most of the credit. Then it was
worthless, and just the other day I was offered five thousand dollars
for the place. That's pretty good. Father couldn't have