ental stagnation--in danger of marrying some
equally rich man whom I don't love, in order to provide myself with new
interests."

"Casey Dunne is a new interest, I suppose," said Kitty Wade dryly.

"I wish you wouldn't, Kitty," said Clyde.

"Then I won't," said Kitty Wade, "for I think you believe what you say.
Which," she added to herself, "is more than I do, young lady."

CHAPTER XVI

On all the ranches along the Coldstream there was water in plenty. The
ditches ran brimful. In the fields the soil was dark with grateful
moisture; the roots of the grain drank deep, fed full on the stored
fertility of ages magically released by the water, and shot suddenly
from small, frail plants, apparently lying thinly in the drills, into
crowding, lusty growths, vigorous, strong-stemmed, robust, throwing
millions of green pennants to the warm winds. Down the length of the
fields at narrow intervals trickled little streams like liquid silver
wires strung against a background of living emerald. Pullulation was
forced, swift, marvellous; one could almost hear the grain grow.

Though everything pointed to a bumper crop, this depended on a
continued water supply, and the ranchers took full advantage of the
present, for none could tell how long the conditions would endure. As
soon as one piece of land had sufficient moisture the water was shifted
elsewhere; they allowed no overflow, no waste. This meant long hours,
continuous, if not arduous work.

Naturally each ranch's main ditch was the heart of its water supply.
From these, smaller ditches carried the supply to the different fields.
These represented the arteries. The small streams trickling down the
long irrigation marks through the grain and root crops might be likened
to veins. To supply these it was necessary to tap the arteries every
few yards; and the adjustment of these outlets, as ditches always lower
during the heat of the day when suction and evaporation are the
greatest and rise in the cooler hours of the night, was a matter of
some skill and difficulty.

Dunne and his entire force worked overtime, taking all they could get
while they could get it. Glass, the timorous would-be investor, paid
him several visits. The first time Casey himself showed him over the
ranch, explaining the theory and practice of irrigation, telling him
what crops could be grown, what could not be grown, and what might
perhaps be grown but as yet had not been proven. Glass absorbed t