hould need a
corral half as big again; but I'm afraid that is beyond us, so we may as
well confine ourselves to providing for present needs."

"My wig!" exclaimed Joe--his favorite exclamation--at the same time
rumpling his hair, as though that were the wig he referred to. "What a
great thing it would be if we could but drain those forty rods!"

"It undoubtedly would," replied my father. "It would about double the
value of the ranch, I think; for, besides diverting the present county
road between San Remo and Sulphide--for everybody would then leave the
old hill-road and come past our door instead--it would give us a large
piece of new land for growing oats and hay. And, do you know, I begin to
think it is very possible that within a couple of years we shall have a
market for more oats and hay than we can grow, even including the 'forty
rods.'"

"Why?" I asked, in surprise; for, at present, though we disposed of our
produce readily enough, it could not be said that there was a booming
market.

"It is just guess-work," my father replied, "pure guess-work on my part,
with a number of good big 'ifs' about it; but if Tom Connor or Long
John, or, indeed, any one else, should discover a big vein of lead-ore
up on Mount Lincoln--and the chances, I think, begin to look
favorable--what would be the result?"

"I don't know," said I. "What?"

"Why, this whole district would take a big leap forward--that is what
would happen. You see, as things stand now, the smelters, not being able
to procure in the district lead-ores enough for fluxing purposes, are
obliged to bring them in by railroad from other camps. This is very
expensive, and the consequence is that they are obliged to make such
high charges for smelting that any ore of less value than thirty dollars
to the ton is at present worthless to the miner: the cost of hauling it
to the smelter and the smelter-charges when it gets there eat up all the
proceeds."

"I see," said Joe. "And the discovery of a mine which would provide the
smelters with all the lead-ore they wanted would bring down the charges
of smelting and enable the producers of thirty dollar ore to work their
claims at a profit."

"Precisely. And as nine-tenths of the claims in the district produce
mainly low-grade ore, which is now left lying on the dumps as worthless,
and as even the big mines take out, and throw aside, probably ten tons
of low-grade in getting out one ton of high-grade, you can see what