y and his future movements,
Miss Parker," he sighed presently. "I might compromise a third party.
In the event of a show-down I do not wish to be forced under oath to
tell what I know--or suspect. However, I am in a position to assure
you that Oriental activities on this ranch have absolutely ceased. Mr.
Okada has been solemnly assured that, in dealing with certain white
men, they will insist upon an eye for an optic and a tusk for a tooth;
he knows that if he starts anything further he will go straight to that
undiscovered country where the woodbine twineth and the whangdoodle
mourneth for its mate."

"What has become of Okada?"

"He has dragged it out of here--drifted and went hence--for keeps."

"Are you quite sure?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die." With an unclean thumb Mr. Conway
drew a large X on the geometrical center of his ample circumference.
"When you've been in the contracting business as long as I have, Miss
Parker," he continued sagely, "you'll learn never to leave important
details to a straw boss. Attend to 'em yourself--and get your regular
ration of sleep. That's my motto."

She beamed gratefully upon him. "Need any money, Bill, old timer?" she
flashed at him suddenly, with delightful camaraderie.

"There should be no secrets between partners. I do."

"_Quanto_?"

"_Cinquenta mille pesos oro, senorita_."

"Help!"

"Fifty thousand bucks, iron men, simoleons, smackers, dollars--"

She reached down and removed a fountain pen from his upper vest pocket.
Then she drew a check book and, crooking her knee over Panchito's neck
and using that knee for a desk, she wrote him a check on a New York
bank for fifty thousand dollars.

"See here," Bill Conway demanded, as she handed him the check, "how
much of a roll you got, young woman?"

"About two hundred thousand in cash and half a million in Liberty
bonds. When I was about five years old my uncle died and left me his
estate, worth about a hundred thousand. It has grown under my father's
management. He invested heavily in Steel Common, at the outbreak of
the war, and sold at the top of the market just before the armistice
was signed."

"Well," Conway sighed, "there is a little justice in the world, after
all. Here at last, is one instance where the right person to handle
money gets her hands on a sizable wad of it. But what I want to know,
my dear young lady, is this: Why purchase philanthropy in fifty
thousand dollar installments