“No. It would be a dead loss—just now.”

Seth looked round inquiringly.

“I was wondering when you would give them up,” the Agent went on. “I’ve had a great deal of difficulty keeping them at it. And we’re liable, I think, to have more.”

The last was said very gravely. 213

“Kind o’ how we’ve figgered right along?” Seth asked.

“Yes.”

The two men relapsed into silence for a while, and smoked on. At last Seth spoke with the air of a man who has just finished reviewing matters of importance in his mind.

“We’ve taken in the well in fixin’ that corral.”

“Good. We’ve got no well here.”

“No.”