Mrs. White wrote to Mr. Jermyn again and this time the lawyer received the letter. He drove out the next day to the ranch, and after hearing the particulars of Philo’s attempted raid upon the Lost River water supply, he advised a settlement of the whole affair to be made at once.
It was discovered that Marsh had circulated the report in Desert City and among the dry-farmers that the new owners of Colonel Hardin’s property had already agreed to sell the water-rights to the Consolidated Ackron Company. As soon as it was made known to the city’s council that Mrs. White stood ready to carry out the dead Colonel’s tentative agreement, the city fathers and the farmers came forward with a proposition and a bond that Lawyer Jermyn advised Mrs. White to accept.
CHAPTER XXVI
SAYING GOOD-BYE ALL AROUND
“He must be dreadfully lonesome over there,” said Tavia, with a sigh, staring out of the window.
Dorothy was counting her handkerchiefs preparatory to storing away those she would not need on the return journey, in the tray of her trunk.
“Forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven——Tavia! I can’t find that forty-eighth handkerchief. I know I had four dozen when we started from North Birchlands. Where——”
“There were forty and seven that safely lay
In the shelter of the trunk,”
wailed Tavia. “Maybe even you, my dear Doro, could mislay a handkerchief.”