ollars by an easier method than toiling
in the rain and wind appealed to him.

"If it's good enough for you it should be safe," he said. "The trouble
is that I've nothing to put in."

"Then you're not empowered to lay out Wyllard's money. If that was the
case it shouldn't be difficult to pile up a bigger margin than you're
likely to do by farming."

Hawtrey started, for the idea had already crept into his mind.

"In a way, I am, but I'm not sure that I'm warranted in operating on
the market with it."

"Have you the arrangement you made with him in writing?"

Hawtrey opened a drawer, and Edmonds betrayed no sign of the
satisfaction he felt when he was handed a somewhat informally worded
document. He perused it carefully, and it seemed to him that it
constituted his companion a partner in the Range, which was
satisfactory. Then he looked up thoughtfully.

"Now," he said, "while I naturally can't tell what Wyllard
contemplated, this paper certainly gives you power to do anything you
think advisable with his money. In any case, I understand that he
can't be back until well on in next year."

"I shouldn't expect him until late in the summer, anyway."

There was silence for a moment or two, and during it Hawtrey's face
grew a trifle hard. It was unpleasant to look forward to the time when
he would be required to relinquish the charge of the Range, and of late
he had been wondering how he could make the most of the situation in
the meanwhile. Then his companion spoke again.

"It's almost certain that the operation I suggested can only result one
way, and it appears most unlikely that Wyllard would raise any trouble
if you handed him several thousand dollars over and above what you had
made by farming. I can't imagine a man objecting to that kind of
thing."

Hawtrey sat still with indecision in his eyes for half a minute, and
Edmonds, who was too wise to say anything, leaned back in his chair.
Then Hawtrey turned to the drawer again with an air of sudden
resolution.

"I'll give you a cheque for a couple of thousand dollars, which is as
far as I care to go just now," he said.

He took a pen, and Edmonds watched him with quiet amusement as he
wrote. As a matter of fact, Hawtrey was in one respect, at least,
perfectly safe in entrusting the money to him. Edmonds had deprived a
good many prairie farmers of their possessions in his time, but he
never stooped to any crude trickery. He left that to the smal