arren and unfruitful.

The young engineer's eyes grew deep and thoughtful. This offer of an
equal partnership meant even more to him than Elijah realized. Why not
accept it? It was what he had hoped for, had sought for--a life work in
which he could enlist his strength and his sense of honor. It was worth
while, grandly worth while. His heart beat high at the thought of it.
The building of a great storage dam in the mountains, the laying out of
canals that should lead the stored waters to the sun-parched deserts;
this was an engineer's work, and he was an engineer. In imagination he
could see, as Elijah saw, the bare brown hillsides clothed in verdure
and teeming with prosperity. Why did he hesitate? Was it lack of money?
That would come. Yet he hesitated. Why? Clearer than ever before came
the thought of Elijah, and Winston knew that his question was answered.
Elijah was his answer. Elijah himself was the obstacle in the way of his
acceptance. There was no doubt of the worth of Elijah's idea, no doubt
of his enthusiasm, no doubt of his patient, tireless energy. Of his
integrity? There was the doubtful point.

If he accepted Elijah's offer, he could foresee the struggle that would
follow. His own sense of right pitted against Elijah's fanatical zeal
that recognized no right except its own desires. When the fully expanded
idea of redeeming the desert hillsides should open before Elijah, before
the eyes of men, when wealth and power should beckon, just a little at
first, from the path of stern uncompromising honor, Elijah would not
restrain himself. Would he be able to control him? Winston's lips set
firmly. He knew that he would conquer in the end.

Elijah was pacing restlessly up and down the verandah, now and then
casting an impatient look upon the young engineer who sat motionless,
his eyes on the hillsides below them. At length he paused abruptly
before Winston.

"Well?" he exclaimed explosively, "you haven't given me an answer yet."

Winston's words were measured.

"No; I haven't. If you insist upon an answer today, it will be no."

"You want time to think it over?" Elijah's voice was sarcastic.

"That's just it. I do want time. I know that if I accept your offer, you
and I are going to come into collision. You have one way of looking at
things, I have another. Not once, but many times, you and I are going to
look at the same thing at the same time and in different ways. When
these times come, one of us will