d strolled impressively toward his tent, disappearing between its
lazily flapping portals.

With the exception of Hiram Hooker, Jo's skinners shouted with
laughter. Jo and Hiram merely exchanged bewildered looks.

"We'll go over now, Wild Cat," she said. "There's lots of time to
unload. We can't make it out of here to-day, anyway."

Side by side they walked toward the lonesome little tent with the big
sign on a pole in front of it--a mere atom of white in the vast desert.

Orr Tweet sat at an oaken desk in one corner of the tent. In another
corner was his bunk, a new suit case, and a new trunk, both in keeping
with Tweet's expensive outdoor clothes. There were several chairs.
Tweet arose briskly and held one for the girl with all the ceremony of
a head waiter in a restaurant of repute.

"Jo," he began, "I hope you'll pardon the familiarity; there is a
matter of sixteen or seventeen dollars due you, I believe, for my
transportation from Frisco to Palada. And, Hiram, I believe I owe you
somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty dollars--the exact amount
escapes me temporarily. Now, both of you, the question is this: Do you
prefer cash, or stock in the Paloma Rancho Investment Company, or land?
The choice is yours."

"Tweet," ordered Hiram, "get down off your high horse and talk sense.
What on earth is all this, anyway?"

Tweet laughed and winked and became himself again.

"Hiram, old boy," he confided, "I'm on the road to fortune. This is
gonta be the biggest deal I ever tried to swing. And, by golly! I'm
the little boy that c'n swing 'er!"

"Tell us about it," pleaded Jerkline Jo.

"Well, sir, Jo, I owe everything to you, and I'll prove I'm not the man
to be slow in showin' my gratitude. I'm a go-getter, and no mistake.
I couldn't make you folks believe it, so I had to go to work and show
you. But I bear you no ill will. You didn't know anything about me.

"Well, dear little playmates, here's the dope:

"That night watchman over there at Julia told me who owned all the land
about here, and said they were in tight financial circumstances--badly
in need o' ready money. They're big land owners--land poor. I drank
that all down, and she listened good to me. For the rest, I banked on
the accurate judgment of a party known as Jerkline Jo. I says to
myself: 'Jo's been on the grade all her life and savvies conditions.
If she says Ragtown is goin' to be located at the buttes, that part o'
the country'