nd the neighboring ranches, is
my limited field of research and I have gone over the field in detail.
Last month, I had up the matter of the Methodist church in Adot. It
was a-once-a-month affair, the minister living in Weldon and no chance
to ride circuit in the winter months. No budget, no money, and worse,
yet, no outlook.

"Now, I didn't go into the matter to do church work and help them; my
business was to appraise them as they were; but I got involved. The
few members thought I was trying to do a bit of missionary work. The
upshot of the affair was, that I found myself with a roster of the
church membership and a list of names of nearly everybody else. I had
my own figures as to needs, debts, and community possibilities. So,
carrying the thing to a finish, I took up the matter of putting them
on a budget and providing the funds.

"First I made them elect Brother Peyton treasurer. He wasn't doing
anything except waiting for the bank to resume business. Then I
canvassed all the names on the rosters and combed the neighboring
ranches for small monthly contributions. I got enough subscriptions to
pay the minister and paint the church house. But it was some job. It
took two weeks. Two weeks of joy and rebuffs, of elations and disgust.
I was tired. I planned to rest up a couple of weeks and wait for my
halo, or wings, or whatever a Christian gets for doing his whole duty;
when right on the heels of my labors, came the greatest catastrophe
that could have happened."

"Did the meetin' house burn down?" interrupted Landy, who had followed
the recitals intently. "Did the preacher gent die, er did Brother
Peyton jump the game, taking the jackpot with him?"

"No, nothing like that. The Nazarenes moved in! You both know about
the Nazarenes?"

Davy did. He had noticed their meetings in cities. But with Landy, the
subject was a blank page and he withheld comment. In later months he
confessed that he thought that the Lough gal was nuts in tryin' to
project the Saviour en some of his kin onto Adot.

"The Nazarenes are new in this country," continued the girl, "and they
have all the enthusiasm of the new convert. Really, they seem to have
the early zeal that some of the churches have lost. And they are a
stubborn lot. That the field seems barren, is nothing to them. They
set up shop in a desert and carry on just the same. To them, poverty
is an asset. Christ's admonition to the rich man, to give his
substance away and follo