ed Kurt. "Yes, I know. But father
doesn't see that. All he sees is--if we have rain we'll have bumper
crops. That big field there would be a record--at war prices.... And he
wouldn't be ruined!"

"Ruined?... Oh, he means I'd close on him.... Hum!... Say, what do you
see in a big wheat yield--if it rains?"

"Mr. Anderson, I'd like to see our debt paid, but I'm thinking most of
wheat for starving peoples. I--I've studied this wheat question. It's
the biggest question in this war."

Kurt had forgotten the girl and was unaware of her eyes bent steadily
upon him. Anderson had roused to the interest of wheat, and to a deeper
study of the young man.

"Say, Dorn, how old are you?" he asked.

"Twenty-four. And Kurt's my first name," was the reply.

"Will this farm fall to you?"

"Yes, if my father does not lose it."

"Hum!... Old Dorn won't lose it, never fear. He raises the best wheat in
this section."

"But father never owned the land. We have had three bad years. If the
wheat fails this summer--we lose the land, that's all."

"Are you an--American?" queried Anderson, slowly, as if treading on
dangerous ground.

"I am," snapped Kurt. "My mother was American. She's dead. Father is
German. He's old. He's rabid since the President declared war. He'll
never change."

"That's hell. What 're you goin' to do if your country calls you?"

"Go!" replied Kurt, with flashing eyes. "I wanted to enlist. Father and
I quarreled over that until I had to give in. He's hard--he's
impossible.... I'll wait for the draft and hope I'm called."

"Boy, it's that spirit Germany's roused, an' the best I can say is, God
help her!... Have you a brother?"

"No. I'm all father has."

"Well, it makes a tough place for him, an' you, too. Humor him. He's
old. An' when you're called--go an' fight. You'll come back."

"If I only knew that--it wouldn't be so hard."

"Hard? It sure is hard. But it'll be the makin' of a great country.
It'll weed out the riffraff.... See here, Kurt, I'm goin' to give you a
hunch. Have you had any dealin's with the I.W.W.?"

"Yes, last harvest we had trouble, but nothing serious. When I was in
Spokane last month I heard a good deal. Strangers have approached us
here, too--mostly aliens. I have no use for them, but they always get
father's ear. And now!... To tell the truth, I'm worried."

"Boy, you need to be," replied Anderson, earnestly. "We're all worried.
I'm goin' to let you read over the laws of that I