"Keep it, old girl," Roger's voice was husky. "By Jove, I may be poor in everything else, but I'm rich in friends. Ern, what do you think of my suggestion?"
"Well, I hate debt worse than anything in the world. But we're in this thing up to our necks and I'm willing to try anything that's honest. If Hackett knows the whole story—"
"He knows it now, I guess, but I'll give him all the details. I may as well go in to-day and get a yes or no at once."
"I'll go," said Ernest. "I'd like to and you'd better not lose a day."
Roger nodded in a relieved manner.
"Listen! There goes the Lemon!" exclaimed Elsa. "I do hope she goes to-day."
"Put! Put!" came over the desert. "Put! Put! Put!"
"I guess she's launched and I've got a clear day for work." Roger rose as he spoke. "Dick's having a struggle to get enough water for that second five acres of his. He insists that he's going ahead with the next five, though."
"Elsa, want to go into Archer's with me?" asked Ernest.
"Sorry, Ern, but I'm going to help Charley can pumpkins to-day. She planted some for luck up by the engine house where the pump leaks, you remember, and the crop is wonderful."