“But he hasn’t seen any work yet,” put in Jerry shortly.
“I’m not worried about that,” Bob said confidently. “I think I’ll like that too.”
“It’s not all a cinch,” said Whiskers. “The Reclamation Service is a hard taskmaster. Jerry knows. He has been with me almost a year—ever since I came back from Virginia.”
There was silence for a moment and then Bob asked quietly.
“Please, Mr. Whitney, won’t you tell me something about the Reclamation Service? Although I have read what I could, I know very little about the real spirit of it, only just figures showing what it’s done or is going to do.”
“All right, Bob, I will, but you’ll have to stop me if I begin to bore you. The Service is an enthusiasm of mine, you know.”
“I guess you know very well I won’t be bored. Go ahead.”
Steve Whitney filled his pipe and then began a description of what is perhaps the most important thing the Government has ever done for the West.
“About twelve years ago,” he said when his pipe was well lighted, “after a great deal of agitation over it, Congress passed a bill which created the thing we call the Reclamation Service. Its object was to increase the number of farms and to increase the total area of productive land. As you no doubt know, almost all the desert land in the United States would be extremely productive provided it could get a sufficient supply of one thing.”
“Water?” put in Bob.