ed Wunpost; "why, where were you thinking of going to?
Has your father given up on his road?"

"Well, no--or that is, he's working on a trail to pack down the ore he
had sacked. And after that's shipped, if it pays him what it ought,
we're going to move inside."

"Oh," observed Wunpost and sat down on the porch, where he rumpled his
hair reflectively. "Say," he said at last, "I've got a little
roll--what's the matter if _I_ build the road?"

"Shh!" she hissed, moving over and speaking low; "don't you know that
Mother wouldn't hear to it? And poor Father, he feels awful bad."

"No, but look," he protested, "you folks have been my friends, and I owe
you for taking care of my mules. I'd be glad to advance the money to put
in an aerial tramway and you could pay it back out of the ore. That's
the kind of road you want, one that will never wash out, and I know
where you can get one cheap. There's one down by Goler that you can buy
for almost nothing--I stopped and looked it over, coming up. And all you
have to do, after you once get it installed, is to feed your ore into
the buckets and send them down the canyon and the empties will come up
with your supplies. It's automatic--works itself, and can't get out of
order--just a long, double cable, swinging down from point to point and
supplying its own power by gravity. Some class to that, and I tell you
what I'll do--I'll lend the money to _you_!"

"No!" she said as he reached down into his pocket, and she gazed at him
reproachfully.

"What do you mean?" he asked after a minute of puzzled silence, and she
shook her head and pointed towards the house. Then she rose up quietly
and led off down the path where the hollyhocks were still in full bloom.

"You know what I mean," she said at the gate; "have you forgotten about
the cloudburst?"

"Why, no," he returned; "you don't mean to say----"

"Yes, I do," she replied, "they think your money is accursed. Father
says you didn't come by it honestly."

"Oh, he does, eh?" sulked Wunpost; "and what do you think about it?"

"I think the same," she answered promptly and looked him straight in the
eye.

"Well, well," he began with a sardonic smile, and then he thrust out his
lip. "All right, kid," he said, "excuse me for living, but I wouldn't be
that good if I could. It takes all the roar out of life. Now here I came
back with some money in my pocket, to make you a little present, and the
first thing you hand me is this: 'My mo