s the part to get toehold on. Anyway, Playmate,' I says,
'we'll take a chance on Jerkline Jo.' And that's what me and Playmate
did.

"I hunted up the owners o' the land when I gets to Los Angeles, and
makes 'em an offer on twelve thousan' acres--comprisin' the entire
tract known as Paloma Rancho, an ancient Spanish grant. Good for
nothin', I'd been told, but to run cows on in winter, when the filaree
and bunch grass are green. Just the same, there are other parts o'
this ole desert that are comin' out with a bang here lately. Lookit up
in Lucerne Valley and around Victorville! Good pear land, once she's
cleared o' the desert growth and a little humus-bearin' fertilizer
added to the soil. Produces good alfalfa, too. Anyway, I says I'll
take a chance, so I made 'em an offer.

"They pretended like they thought the railroad was gonta do 'em a lot
o' good in a few years; that they didn't care whether they disposed o'
the property or not. But that bunk's old stuff to me, so I shut 'em up
and made 'em talk turkey. I made 'em an offer o' ten dollars an acre
for Paloma Rancho, payment to be made in quarterly installments of six
thousan' dollars, each, contract to run for five years, with interest
at seven per cent on deferred payments--first payment o' six thousan'
dollars to be made in advance.

"They refused, and I picked up my hat and started out. They called me
back, and for ten minutes we puttered around between ten dollars an
acre and fifteen, and at last they fell into my arms. We had the
papers drawn up, and I slips 'em a certified check for six thousan'
buckerinos."

"You gave them six thousand dollars!" cried Hiram.

"Sure," Tweet replied easily. "I'd already wired to Frisco and
disposed o' my ditch-digger holdin's for over eight thousan'; I got
over a thousan' left, five hundred paid on an automobile that's now
asleep back o' this office, and a toehold on Paloma Rancho, twelve
thousan' acres o' perfectly beautiful sand.

"And now that you folks have dumped a cargo o' freight here marked D.,
S. & T., No. 1, I know we win. We're goin' to make this one o' the
liveliest propositions in the West. Ragtown will move down here as
soon as the big outfit lands at the buttes. City lots in
Ragtown--which later probably will be known as Tweet--will be worth
from a hundred dollars to two hundred and fifty, accordin' to location.
My engineers will be here soon, and we'll lay off the town site. I've
made appl