He looked at Justin.
“Speakin’ of this country and rain, we’re reckonin’, Pearl and me, that we’ll take up farmin’, fer a change; think it might be healthy fer our pocket book. I’ve had notice from Davison to quit, the first of the month. I told him I’d quit to-morrow, if it suited him and he had a man to put in my place; that if he didn’t think I was earnin’ all the good money I got and a little bit more, I did, and I stood ready to go on short notice, or without any notice at all. I’ve knowed it was comin’ this good while, and I’ve been gittin’ ready fer it. Davison and Fogg air sellin’ off a good many cattle. The rest they’re goin’ to throw onto the mesa, an’ water at the water holes of the Purgatoire; the gover’ment is orderin’ down the fences, and it would take an army of cowboys to hold the cattle off the crops, with them fences gone.”
Clayton was interested.
“Do you think of farming here in the valley?” he asked.
“Yes, we’re figgerin’ on buyin’ Simpson’s place; it’s well up toward the head of the ditch, and if any water comes we’re reckonin’ that will give us a whack at it. Simpson’s made me an offer to sell. I’m jist waitin’ to see what’s goin’ to turn up here in the ditch line.”
“I tell him he’ll wait round till it’s too late,” said Pearl. “Fogg will buy that land before he knows it; he’s buying up farms everywhere, for himself and Davison.”
She turned to Justin with a smile.
“I’ve been wondering if you wouldn’t get married and settle down to farming, too; you never liked ranching.”
Pearl was as much of a match-maker as any dowager of her favorite novels.
“Pearl won’t never be satisfied until that weddin’ comes off,” said Harkness. “These women air bound to have a weddin’ happenin’ about one’t in so often, er they ain’t happy; if it can’t be their own weddin’, another woman’s will do. The weddin’s of a neighborhood air what keeps the old maids alive, I reckon; they live ferever, ye know, drawin’ happiness out of other women’s marriages.”