"I don't understand it at all," said Charley. "There is plenty of water
in this range. You see that old silver mine, up there?" pointing to an
ancient dump on the mountainside back of the house. "Well, the lower
level of that has a foot of water in it."

"How does it seem, stagnant?" asked Roger.

"I've never seen it," replied Charley. "Dick told me."

Roger lighted his pipe and took a few meditative puffs. "Charley, are
you and Dick entirely broke?" he asked.

"We've got enough left of the turquoise money to grub stake us to the
end of the year. Why, Roger?"

"Well, I think you've got to have a decent gasoline engine here, at
once, if you're going to save that first crop."

"But I thought your plant--" Charley spoke carefully as if fearful of
hurting Roger.

"So did I," he returned, a little bitterly. "But I've thought a good
many things in my life that haven't come true."

"I'm very certain that this new engine of yours will do everything you
expect of it." She smiled a little. "You remember poor old Mrs. von
Minden said you were to found an empire."

Roger grinned. "She didn't know engineers!"

Charley's smile faded as she stood staring at the Lemon. "No, a new
engine is out of the question. We--we have some bad debts that keep
Hackett from giving us credit. We're counting on this first crop to
clear part of that up."

"Then," said Roger decidedly, "there's just one thing to be done. We'll
move the Sun Plant up here, now, while I'm waiting to complete the
engine."

"The absorber and condenser! Oh, Roger man, the whole crop would be
burned to a crisp while you did that! And only you and Gustav to do it,
and the team is at Archer's."

Roger bit his pipe stem. "There must be a way," he insisted, doggedly.
"There's got to be."

"Vy not make the vell, first," suggested Gustav who had been a silent
auditor to the entire conversation. "If you don't get vater, a gut
engine is no gut."

"Who's going to dig it?" asked Roger. "If it takes as long to get to
water up here as it did at the Plant, you and I would be at it till
October. No! I'm going to get help. I don't know how I'm going to get
it, but it's going to be done. I could keep twenty men busy here for a
month."

Charley sighed and Gustav shrugged his shoulders.

Roger relighted his pipe and went into a brown study. Gustav waited
patiently for several moments, then left to do the evening chores.
Charley sat on an empty box beside the pump watchin