plain exactly how you stand."

Nasmyth did so as clearly as he could, and Acton looked at him
thoughtfully for a moment or two.

"I've been partly expecting this," he observed. "It's quite clear that
one or two of the big land exploitation people have a hand in the
thing. I guess I could put my finger right down on them. You said the
man's name was Hames?"

Nasmyth said it was, and Acton sat thinking for several minutes.

"It seems to me that the folks I have in my mind haven't been quite
smart enough," he declared at length. "They should have put up a
sounder man. As it happens, I know a little about the one they fixed
upon. Mr. Hames is what you could call a professional claim-jumper,
and it's fortunate that there's a weak spot or two in his career."

Acton paused, and Nasmyth waited in tense expectancy until the older
man turned to him again, with a twinkle in his eyes.

"I almost think I can take a hand in this thing, and to commence with,
we'll go down to Victoria this afternoon and call on Mr. Hames," he
added. "If he has bought that land, it will probably be registered in
his name. The men you have against you are rather fond of working in
the dark. Then we come to another point--what it would be wisest to
do with Waynefleet, who went back on you. You said he had a mortgage
on his ranch. You know who holds it?"

Nasmyth said he did not know, and Acton nodded. "Any way," he
rejoined, "we can ascertain it in the city. Now, I guess you would
like that man run right out of the neighbourhood? It would be safest,
and it might perhaps be done."

Nasmyth was startled by this suggestion, and with a thoughtful face he
sat wondering what was most advisable. He bore Waynefleet very little
good-will, but it was clear that Laura must share any trouble that
befell her father, and he could not at any cost lay a heavier load
upon her. He was conscious that Acton was watching him intently.

"No," he objected, "I don't want him driven out. In fact, I should be
satisfied with making it impossible for him to enter into any
arrangement of the kind again."

"In that case, I guess we'll try to buy up his mortgage," remarked
Acton. "Land's going to be dearer in that district presently."

Nasmyth looked at him with a little confusion. "It is very kind, but,
after all, I have no claim on you."

"No," agreed Acton, with a smile, "you haven't in one way. This is,
however, a kind of thing I'm more at home in than you seem to be,