inload in by the time I got back."

"There's the dickens to pay!" he grumbled. "They know I have to have
hay right along. I've a standing order for at least half a load of hay
every trip. These settlers are buying it fast. I have only ten bales
on hand. Next fellow that comes along will probably want all ten of
them. A nice mess! What's the matter with those Ikes over there at
Julia? Are they asleep?"

"It seems they've had some difficulty in getting alfalfa here lately,"
the girl explained. "I'm sorry, Mr. Huber. The best I can do for you
is to promise to bring every bale I can next trip."

"Rush it," ordered the merchant. "If you can make it, let somebody
else's order ride, Jo, and bring me every pound you can."

"I'll see what can be done," was her promise as she left and went to
the little cabin that she had had built for her at the edge of town.

Here she cleansed herself of the stains of the trip, and substituted
for chaps and flannel shirt a new tailor-made suit which had just come
from Los Angeles. As she was about to go out again Twitter-or-Tweet
Orr Tweet knocked on her door.

"Jo," he said with his whimsical smile, "I'm showing a couple o' men
some property, and thought you might like to take a ride. You've never
seen much of the cultivated land, have you--except from a distance?
Come 'n' see what chances your money's got in Paloma Rancho, the
Homesteader's Promised Land of Milk and Honey. Won't be gone over an
hour."

His car was waiting, with his two prospective land purchasers in the
tonneau. Jo readily agreed, for she had nothing to occupy her, and
Tweet helped her in beside the driver's seat, after introducing the men
to her.

Tweet drove slowly and talked a great deal, steering the car with one
hand and directing his conversation at all three of his listeners. He
dwelt at length to the strangers on Jerkline Jo's great success in her
freighting enterprise, not neglecting to mention that she was investing
a great portion of her profits in Paloma Rancho. The men were
impressed.

Jo, too, was impressed with Tweet's abilities as a salesman. He
emanated confidence, and his enthusiasm seemed well-founded and
sincere. In fact, the new alfalfa ranches and the orchards of young
pear trees looked promising indeed, and the projects showed evidences
of thrift and capability on the part of the ranchers and near-ranchers
who had bought land on contract from the discoverer of Paloma Rancho