't be safe and healthy, sometimes, but it'll be a
man's job--don't mistake me! You can gamble on having things to do
outdoors. Now, what do you say?"

"I accept, and I thank you--I can't say how much," replied Gale,
earnestly.

"Good! That's settled. Let's go out and tell Laddy and Jim."

Both boys expressed satisfaction at the turn of affairs, and then with
Belding they set out to take Gale around the ranch. The house and
several outbuildings were constructed of adobe, which, according to
Belding, retained the summer heat on into winter, and the winter cold
on into summer. These gray-red mud habitations were hideous to look
at, and this fact, perhaps, made their really comfortable interiors
more vividly a contrast. The wide grounds were covered with luxuriant
grass and flowers and different kinds of trees. Gale's interest led
him to ask about fig trees and pomegranates, and especially about a
beautiful specimen that Belding called palo verde.

Belding explained that the luxuriance of this desert place was owing to
a few springs and the dammed-up waters of the Rio Forlorn. Before he
had come to the oasis it had been inhabited by a Papago Indian tribe
and a few peon families. The oasis lay in an arroyo a mile wide, and
sloped southwest for some ten miles or more. The river went dry most of
the year; but enough water was stored in flood season to irrigate the
gardens and alfalfa fields.

"I've got one never-failing spring on my place," said Belding. "Fine,
sweet water! You know what that means in the desert. I like this
oasis. The longer I live here the better I like it. There's not a
spot in southern Arizona that'll compare with this valley for water or
grass or wood. It's beautiful and healthy. Forlorn and lonely, yes,
especially for women like my wife and Nell; but I like it.... And
between you and me, boys, I've got something up my sleeve. There's
gold dust in the arroyos, and there's mineral up in the mountains. If
we only had water! This hamlet has steadily grown since I took up a
station here. Why, Casita is no place beside Forlorn River. Pretty
soon the Southern Pacific will shoot a railroad branch out here. There
are possibilities, and I want you boys to stay with me and get in on
the ground floor. I wish this rebel war was over.... Well, here are
the corrals and the fields. Gale, take a look at that bunch of horses!"

Belding's last remark was made as he led his companions out of shady