n with us, as you put it."

"With _you_!" corrected Terry briefly.

"We're mortgaged to old man Packard," continued Temple, somewhat hasty
about it now that he had fairly plunged into the current of what he had
to say, as though the water were cold and he was anxious to clamber out
upon the far side. "Not much in a way; a good deal when you figure on
how tight money is and how little we've seen of it these last few
years. Now, Packard sends Blenham across with a message; he's going to
foreclose; he is going to drive us out; to ruin us. That is Packard's
word."

Terry stiffened in her chair; her chin rose a little in the air; her
eyes brightened; the color in her cheeks deepened. That was her only
answer to Packard's ultimatum as quoted to her father by Blenham and by
Temple to her. Knowing that there was still more to come, she sat
still, her clasped hands tightening about her knees. Blenham, as still
as she, was sipping at his whiskey.

"But Blenham is a white man."

Temple attempted to say it with the force of conviction, but Terry
merely sniffed, and Temple himself failed somewhat to put his heart
into his words. He hurried on, repeating:

"Yes, a white man. And he's got a little money of his own that he's
been tucking away all these years of working for Packard. He comes
over this evening, Teresa, my dear, and makes us a--curse it, a
generous offer. You see, as things are, we are bound to lose the whole
place, lock, stock, and barrel, to Packard; you don't want to do that,
do you?"

"Go on," said Terry. Her face was suddenly as white as the hands from
which she was swiftly, nervously stripping her gauntlets. "Just what
is Blenham's generous offer, Dad?"

"It's one of two things."

He hesitated and licked his lips. Terry's heart sank lower yet; it
took him so long to set the thing into words! "You see, as Old Man
Packard's foreman and agent he comes to tell us that he is ordered to
foreclose; to break us utterly. As a friend to us he says----"

"For God's sake!" cried Terry sharply. "What does he say?"

"He will pay us a thousand dollars to let him take over everything! He
will assume the mortgage; he will scrap it out with old Packard; he
will clear the title; and, if we get where we want the ranch back some
time, he will let us buy him out for just what he has put in it."

Terry looked at him gravely.

"In words of one syllable," she said quietly, "Blenham plans to give
you one tho