l stuff like that--say, somebody'll
be in bad!

"Just the same, though, my engineers tell me there's shallower water
here than any place on this ol' desert. Butte Springs proves that,
too. And we got the water right on the mountain lake; so they can't
get that. Riparian rights--all straight, by golly! No worry there. I
don't think settlers'll have any luck striking water without big
expense anywhere around us. Just the same, it'll take time to prove
that.

"The settler, you savvy, has six months after he files before he's got
to get on his land. Even then he ain't required to develop water; and
chances are he won't. He'll put in dry crops to cover the improvements
demanded by the government, whether they succeed or not--which they
won't. But all this time, because nobody'll be makin' a great effort
to locate water, folks will be believin' that government land is as
good as ours. See the point? Paloma Rancho land will stop sellin'
pronto, and our pleasant little dream will turn into a scary nightmare."

"But if the surrounding land is inferior to the rancho," said Jo, "it's
only a matter of time until people will find it out. Then you'll
regain your old status, won't you?"

"In time. Yeah--that's it. But time's money, little girl; and once
every three months I gotta slap down six thousand filthy lucreinos,
plus a neat little bunch o' interest, or--bingo! All is lost!

"Folks that peddled me this property are gettin' on their feet again,
and their young lives are one long regret over havin' had ta part with
Paloma Rancho. 'Salways th' way. One dog leaves a bone, and another
dog comes along and goes to work and picks her up. Then the other dog
he goes to work and thinks that was a pretty darn good bone after all.
Then fur begins to fly, and old ladies yell: 'How cruel! Stop it, you
big heartless men!'

"So the other dogs won't miss a chance to shoot the prongs into me the
moment I fail on a single payment and the interest due. They don't
have to; I signed to forfeit everything any interest day that I failed
to pungle up. Three days o' grace--then--boom! 'Wasn't it pretty,
papa! Shoot off another one just like it!'"

Jerkline Jo sipped her near-coffee thoughtfully, and gazed unseeingly
at the menu card, a marvel of weird orthography, punctuated with fly
specks and splatters of egg yolk. Jo had over ten thousand dollars
invested in Paloma Rancho.

"We're not doing the freighting business tha