horse and went loping over the grassland to meet the person
who drove in such haste; and the probability that he was meeting trouble
halfway only sent him the more eagerly forward.

Trouble met him with hard, brown eyes and corn yellow hair blown in
loose strands across cheeks roughened by the spring winds and sun-glare
of Montana. Trouble pulled up and twisted sidewise in the seat and
kicked the heads off some wild larkspurs with her whip while her tongue
flayed the soul of Andy Green with sarcasm.

"Well, I have found out just how you helped me colonize this tract, Mr.
Green," she began with a hard inflection under the smoothness of her
voice. "I must compliment you upon your promptness and thoroughness in
the matter; for an amateur you have made a remarkable showing--in--in
treachery and deceit. I really did not suppose you had it in you."

"Remember, I told you I might buy in if it looked good to me," Andy
reminded her in the mildest tone of which he was capable--and he could
be as mild as new milk when he chose.

Florence Grace Hallman looked at him with a lift of her full upper lip
at the left side. "It does look good, then? You told Mr. Graham and that
Mr. Wirt a different story, Mr. Green. You told them this land won't
raise white beans, and you were at some pains, I believe, to explain why
it would not. You convinced them, by some means or other, that the whole
tract is practically worthless for agricultural purposes. Both Mr.
Wirt and Mr. Graham had some capital to invest here, and now they are
leaving, and they have persuaded several others to leave with them. Does
it really look good to you--this land proposition?"

"Not your proposition--no, it don't." Andy faced her with a Keen level
glance as hard as her own. One could get the truth straight from the
shoulder if one pushed Andy Green into a corner. "You know and I know
that you're trying to cold-deck this bunch. The land won't raise white
beans or anything else without water, and you know it. You can plant
folks on the land and collect your money and tell 'em goodbye and go to
it--and that settles your part of it. But how about the poor devils that
put in their time and money?"

Florence Grace Hallman spread her hands in a limited gesture because of
the reins, and smiled unpleasantly. "And yet, you nearly broke your neck
filing on the land yourself and getting a lot of your friends to file,"
she retorted. "What was your object, Mr. Green--since the