id noted the strained situation.

"She's laid you broadside on there, Ralph; that gun is out o' action.
You'll have to limber up another battery."

Winston and Helen both turned to Uncle Sid; then, smiling, their eyes
met and the threatened storm passed by.

"Just what is it, Ralph?"

"We want to know the whole business, Helen, so far as you know."

Uncle Sid again broke in.

"When a bell rattles, we want to know whether its cracked, or whether
there's just something on it that can be got off."

"I don't think Elijah's cracked, Uncle Sid." She grew very sober as she
turned once more to Winston.

"The rumor that Mellin holds Elijah's note for one hundred thousand
dollars, that the note is secured by a mortgage on the Palm Wells tract,
is true. These facts are recorded. I have seen the records. Further than
that, I know nothing."

"Ur-r-rh!" grunted Uncle Sid, whose thoughts suddenly reverted to Eunice
MacGregor. "I guess I know the tree to smoke that coon out of."

Helen shot an intelligent glance at Uncle Sid, her lips parted, then she
thought better of her impulse and remained silent.

Winston again turned to Helen.

"I shall have to ask you another direct question, Helen. Did the company
get their deposit from the Pacific?"

Helen looked squarely at Winston.

"I don't know."

"Perhaps you don't _know_, Helen, but you are in a better position to
guess than we are. There's no use playing with words. That Palm Wells
business called for ready money. I know as well as you do that Elijah
had no such amount. The question is, where did he get it?"

"If I knew absolutely, I would tell you. I will tell you what I do know,
but I shall have to ask you to keep it to yourselves for a little." Then
she told of Elijah's discovery of the frostless belt; how, half in jest,
half in earnest, she had told him that she might avail herself of her
knowledge; of Elijah's alarm; of their agreement to acquire the tract
together.

"We have," she concluded, "got the Pico ranch in our hands. My five
thousand is in it. There was fifty-five thousand paid down. Elijah did
not tell me where he got the money, but I supposed at the time that he
had pledged a part of his holdings in the Las Cruces to raise it."

Uncle Sid looked up. There was sternness but yet kindness in the keen
eyes that held Helen's.

"Don't you think you ought to know, Helen?"

Helen's face grew suddenly drawn and white.

"I have told you all that I ought