hing besides what you already
have that appeals to you? Have you no ambition?"

"There are plenty of things I want. Maybe I'd be modest, though, if I had
ambition. We all want a lot of things which we can't get."

"Correct, my friend. Some of us want money, others desire happiness, still
others are after something else. As you say, some of use are never
satisfied--the ambitious ones."

"Then you are ambitious?"

"You've struck it," smiled Langford.

Dakota caught his gaze, and there was a smile of derision on his lips.
"What particular thing are _you_ looking for?" he questioned.

"Land."

"Mine?" Dakota's lips curled a little. "Doubler's, then," he added as
Langford shook his head with an emphatic, negative motion. "He's the only
man who's got land near yours."

"That's correct," admitted Langford; "I want Doubler's land."

There was a silence for a few minutes, while Langford watched Dakota
furtively as the latter gave his entire attention to his saddle.

"You've got all the rest of those things you spoke about, then--happiness,
money, and such?" said Dakota presently, in a low voice.

"Yes. I am pretty well off there."

"All you want is Doubler's land?" He stopped working with the saddle and
looked at Langford. "I reckon, if you've got all those things, that you
ought to be satisfied. But of course you ain't satisfied, or you wouldn't
want Doubler's land. Did you offer to buy it?"

"I asked him to name his own figure, and he wouldn't sell--wouldn't even
consider selling, though I offered him what I considered a fair price."

"That's odd, isn't it? You'd naturally think that money could buy
everything. But maybe Doubler has found happiness on his land. You
couldn't buy that from a man, you know. I suppose you care a lot about
Doubler's happiness--you wouldn't want to take his land if you knew he was
happy on it? Or don't it make any difference to you?" There was faint
sarcasm in his voice.

"As it happens," said Langford, reddening a little, "this isn't a question
of happiness--it is merely business. Doubler's land adjoins mine. I want
to extend my holdings. I can't extend in Doubler's direction because
Doubler controls the water rights. Therefore it is my business to see that
Doubler gets out."

"And sentiment has got no place in business. That right? It doesn't make
any difference to you that Doubler doesn't want to sell; you want his
land, and that settles it--so far as you are concerned. You don