and want first-hand
information. Emma and I are starting for Chicago to-morrow. Open all mail
and wire anything important.

"BOB."

"Just what I said they'd ought to do," breathed Mrs. Van, happily. "Well,
that girl's got a good husband--I'll say she has."

"Directors would be a heap more uneasy if they knew what we know,"
remarked Williams, sententiously. "Hear anything more about the Chihuahua
troops bein' ordered in, Johnson?"

"Nope," replied the engineer, his mouth full of pie. "Everybody crawled
into their holes in Conejo. Didn't you never see a sand-storm, Jack?"

"I wish I'd known he was going to Chicago. I'd have asked him to look in
on my girl," said Jimmy, folding up his letter. "I don't like the way she
writes--all jazz and picture shows. Some cuss is trying to cut me out with
her."

"More likely she's heard about you and the little Mexican over to Conejo,"
remarked the fireman, unsympathetically.

"If you'd had her address she sure would have," replied Adams, promptly.
"That Mexican girl----"

"Yes, we remember her. She was a looker but she used too much powder--they
all do." Hard's voice was judicial. "She always reminded me of a chocolate
cake caught out in a snow-storm."

"Hush up!" Mrs. Van's voice was tragic. "Do you want Dolores to get mad
and quit? They've got their feelings same as we have. I guess I've got to
catch a deaf and dumb one if I want to keep her on this place!"

Marc Scott sat in his place, a pile of letters before him, when the others
had gone, and Mrs. Van was helping Dolores with the dishes.

"Say, Mrs. Van, when you get through with those dishes come outside a
minute; I want to talk to you," he said as he threw open the door.

The shack boasted no veranda, but there were three small steps. Scott
seated himself on the top one and rolled a cigarette. The air was chilly.
The sun had sunk behind the mountains and outlined their rugged shapes
with golden lines against the purple. Everything was very still--there was
not a sound except for the faint strains of the victrola, which Jimmy
Adams always played for an hour after supper. A few figures moved about in
and out of the other cabins; not many--for the working force was light
these days. A light in the store showed that Williams was keeping open
house as usual.

The door opened and Mrs. Van came out and sat beside him on the step.

"Well?" she said, quietly, "what's the matter?"

"I'm in the deuce of a mess," replied