difficulty was to
restrain and control the excessive vegetation, and he matched the small
economies of the Chinese against the opulence of the Californian soil.
The "garden patch" prospered; the neighbors spoke well of it and of
him. But Jackson knew that this fierce harvest of early spring was to be
followed by the sterility of the dry season, and that irrigation could
alone make his work profitable in the end. He brought a pump to force
the water from the little stream at the foot of the slope to the top,
and allowed it to flow back through parallel trenches. Again Buckeye
applauded! Only the gloomy barkeeper shook his head. "The moment you get
that thing to pay, Mr. Wells, you'll find the hand of Brown, somewhere,
getting ready to squeeze it dry!"

But Jackson Wells did not trouble himself about Brown, whom he scarcely
knew. Once indeed, while trenching the slope, he was conscious that he
was watched by two men from the opposite bank; but they were apparently
satisfied by their scrutiny, and turned away. Still less did he concern
himself with the movements of his cousin, who once or twice passed him
superciliously in her buggy on the road. Again, she met him as one of
a cavalcade of riders, mounted on a handsome but ill-tempered mustang,
which she was managing with an ill-temper and grace equal to the
brute's, to the alternate delight and terror of her cavalier. He could
see that she had been petted and spoiled by her new guardian and his
friends far beyond his conception. But why she should grudge him the
little garden and the pastoral life for which she was so unsuited,
puzzled him greatly.

One afternoon he was working near the road, when he was startled by
an outcry from his Chinese laborers, their rapid dispersal from the
strawberry beds where they were working, the splintering crash of his
fence rails, and a commotion among the buckeyes. Furious at what seemed
to him one of the usual wanton attacks upon coolie labor, he seized
his pick and ran to their assistance. But he was surprised to find
Jocelinda's mustang caught by the saddle and struggling between two
trees, and its unfortunate mistress lying upon the strawberry bed.
Shocked but cool-headed, Jackson released the horse first, who was
lashing out and destroying everything within his reach, and then turned
to his cousin. But she had already lifted herself to her elbow, and
with a trickle of blood and mud on one fair cheek was surveying him
scornfully un