"I couldn't take a commission from you for valuing land for a buyer."
"Nonsense! Done every day. I might—er—stretch it a little. You are not to worry about that note of yours and the mortgage money, my boy. One good turn deserves another, hey?"
"I know the place," Angus said, "but I never thought of putting a value on it. How about water?"
"Tetreau had a record of eight hundred inches on Canon Creek. That goes with the place. And there's a good spring creek."
"That little spring wouldn't irrigate more than a few acres," Angus objected. "Seems to me I heard the old man quit because he couldn't bring water from the main creek."
Mr. Braden frowned. "Nonsense! Plenty of water. Tetreau was too lazy to run a ditch, that's all. Lots of water. Never mind that. The main thing is the land, which is good. I'll depend on you for a good report, and I'll tell Chetwood to run out and see you."
Angus rode home, none too well pleased with the prospect. He could just remember Felix Tetreau, a stooped old Frenchman, and he had a vague recollection that the latter had given up the place after a vain attempt to make water run up hill. But it was possible that he had been wrong in his levels, or, as Mr. Braden had suggested, too lazy to put in a ditch. Anyway, he had gone years before, and it appeared that Mr. Braden who owned a big block of land in that vicinity, had acquired his holding. The clearing had grown back to wild, which as there had not been much of it, mattered the less. But the question of water mattered a great deal.
For in that district water was a sine qua non. Angus was no victim of the dry-farming delusion. Water and plenty of it, was essential in most years to grow paying crops. Therefore the value of the land, no matter what the quality of the soil, was conditional upon whether water could be brought upon it. It was that question which, in spite of Mr. Braden's airy dismissal, must be investigated in justice to Chetwood. Therefore when the latter came to the ranch, Angus took with them a hand level.
The land in question lay close to the foothills, and back of it a small, round mountain rose, but this was evidently not part of the parcel. The soil was a dark, sandy loam, which would give good result if properly fed, watered and cultivated. Angus pointed out these facts to the prospective buyer.
"Then you think it a good investment?" Chetwood queried.