rrez establishment. The Senora Guiterrez, a pretty buxom
young Mexican woman, had fed him on _atole_ gruel and on all of the eggs
which her small flock of scrub hens produced; the seven little dirty brown
Guiterrez children had come in to marvel at him with their fingers in
their mouths; the Guiterrez goats and dogs and chickens had wandered in
and out of the room in a companionable way, as though seeking to make him
feel at ease; and Guiterrez himself had spent his evenings sitting beside
Ramon, smoking cigarettes and talking.

This time of idleness had not been wholly wasted, either, for it had come
out in the course of conversation that Guiterrez had been offered a
thousand dollars for his place by a man whom he did not know, but whom
Ramon had easily identified as an agent of MacDougall. Tempted by an
amount which he could scarcely conceive, Guiterrez was thinking seriously
of accepting the offer.

Now that he had won over Alfego and had gotten the influence of the
_penitentes_ on his side, Ramon's one remaining object was to defeat just
such deals as this, which MacDougall already had under way. He intended to
stir up feeling against the gringos, and to persuade the Mexicans not to
sell. Later, such lands as he needed in order to control the right-of-way,
he would gain by lending money and taking mortgages. But he did not intend
to cheat any one. Such Mexicans as he had to oust from their lands, he
would locate elsewhere. He was filled with a large generosity, and with a
real love for these, his people. He meant to dominate this country, but
his pride demanded that no one should be poor or hungry in his domain. So
now he argued the matter to Guiterrez with real sincerity.

"A thousand dollars? _Por Dios_, man! Don't you know that this place is
worth many thousand dollars to you?"

"How can it be worth many thousand?" Guiterrez demanded. "What have I
here? A few acres of chile and corn, a little hay, some range for my
goats, a few cherry trees, a house.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Many thousands? No."

"You have here a home, _amigo_," Ramon reminded him. "Do you know how long
a thousand dollars would support you? A year, perhaps. Then you would have
to work for other men the rest of your life. Here you are free and
independent."

Guiterrez said nothing, but he had obviously received a new idea, and was
impressed. Ramon never returned to the direct argument, but he missed no
chance to stimulate Guiterrez's pride in h