ges, big fellows without seeds; of mountains with too
much water and of deserts without enough. Then he dreamed of bunching
the three together for their mutual benefit. He convinced some Eastern
capital that it was no dream after all. Now we are trying to make good."

Uncle Sid grunted.

"That's tolerably condensed."

Ralph laughed at Uncle Sid's disapproval.

"If you are really interested, you'd better let us show you around a
little. You can see a good deal better than I can tell you."

Uncle Sid's face had lost its humorous wrinkles.

"'Lige is really doin' something worth while out here, is he?"

"He's got me on the jump. That's a good deal in itself."

"What are you doin'?"

"Oh," Ralph laughed. "I'm being bossed."

Uncle Sid looked sharply at Ralph.

"If I was on the quarter deck as I used to be, an' saw you afore the
mast, I'd think over my orders before I handed 'em to you. If 'Lige has
any sense with his dreamin', he'll do the same."

"Helen's helping 'Lige to boss me. When he isn't around, she does it
alone."

Uncle Sid looked at Helen. The humorous wrinkles returned to his face.

"What's the matter with you? You swallowed your tongue?"

"No; I'm holding it." She answered Uncle Sid's look as well as his
words.

The lumbering wagon drew up in front of the Rio Vista. Before Ralph
could dispose of the reins, Helen was on the ground and ascending the
steps of the hotel. At the top she paused, speaking to Ralph.

"I'm going to take Uncle Sid out to the works before long." Then she
entered the door.

Uncle Sid turned to Ralph.

"I don't guess you're bein' bossed quite so much as you say." He slowly
clambered from the wagon and stood, looking at Ralph, his hand on the
wheel. "I ain't askin' questions just for fun," he began.

Ralph interrupted.

"I won't answer your questions in fun either. But you do what Helen
says. Come out to the works."

Perhaps it was because she had expected too much, but Helen was
disappointed in the morning. Certain things had been disquieting.
Ralph's words "For the sake of old times, if for nothing else"--had at
first annoyed her. The annoyance changed to a questioning disquietude.
The very annoyance suggested possibilities which had never distinctly
occurred to her before. She did not, she could not resent it as she
would like to do. She could not avoid a comparison between the clear,
steady eyes of Ralph Winston and the glowing, shifting ones of Elijah
Berl w