knew their business. All
these mountains were platted, and 'adversed,' and litigated. Then,
before the second discoveries, and before any coal veins were located on
the other side of the valley, the gold veins pinched out. Everybody got
broke, and nearly everybody got up and walked away. Meantime, the courts
had only been sitting over at Lincoln once in a while--when Billy the Kid
allowed it. I'll have to admit that things were a trifle tangled as to
title."

"Well, I should say so!" Barkley was irritable, Grayson, the engineer,
silent and smiling.

"There was so much room after the mining boom broke, that nobody cared
for a town lot. Every fellow just picked out the place he liked, built
where he liked, and went in as his own butler, chambermaid, and cook.

"You are seeing this country now, gentlemen," he went on, "pretty much as
God made it, and as Coronado saw it three hundred years ago. I deprecate
any undue haste on your part. We've been three hundred years in getting
this far along. We've done very well without either a town site or a
city council."

Barkley was utterly unable to comprehend either Dan Anderson or Heart's
Desire. "This is the absolute limit!" he rapped out. "At least we'll
end this now. Come on, Grayson, we three'll go out and have a look at
the place, and see what is the best way to lay out the streets. I
suppose, Anderson, you can tell us how we can get title under government
patent--mineral lands--coal lands--desert lands--homestead--whatever we
can dig out the quickest?"

"Oh, yes," said Dan Anderson, "but don't dig too deep, or you may run
against a land grant from Ferdinand and Isabella to some well-beloved
_hidalgo_ whose descendants may now be herding sheep on the Pecos, or
owning the earth along the Rio Grande. Cabeza de Vaca may own this
valley, for all I know. Maybe Coronado owns it. _Quien sabe_? We only
borrowed the place. We thought that probably Charles IV, or Philip II,
or whoever it was, wouldn't mind very much, seeing that he's dead anyhow,
in case we returned the valley in good condition, reasonable wear and
tear excepted, after we were dead ourselves. Of course, this railroad
coming in complicates matters a good deal. Do I make all this clear to
you, gentlemen? I never did see a place just like this, myself."

"No?" snapped Barkley.

"So we called it Heart's Desire."

"We'll call it Coalville now," retorted Barkley.

They passed out into the brig