“No, Daddy, no! we can’t allow our guests to leave, when they’ve only just come!” protested Isobel.
“As for any talk about board,” added her father, “you ought to know better, Mr. Blake.”
“My apology!” admitted Blake. “I’ve been living in the East.”
“That explains,” agreed the cowman. “Even as far east as Denver––I’ve got a sister there; lives up beyond the Capitol. But I’ve talked with other men there from over this way. They all agree you might 165 as well look for good cow pasture behind a sheep drive as for hospitality in a city. Sometimes you can get what you want, and all times you’re sure to get a lot of attention you don’t want––if you have money to spend.”
“That’s true. But about my going ahead here?” inquired Blake. “Say the word, and I put irrigation on the shelf throughout our visit.”
Knowles shook his head thoughtfully. “No, I reckon Chuckie is right. We’d best learn just how we stand.”
“What if I work out a practical project? There’s any amount of good land on your mesa. The lay of it and the altitude ought to make it ideal for fruit. If I see that the proposition is feasible, I shall be bound to put water on all of your range that I can. I am an engineer,––I cannot let good land and water go to waste.”
“The land isn’t going to waste,” replied Knowles. “It’s the best cattle range in this section, and it’s being used for the purpose Nature intended. As for the water, Chuckie has figured out there isn’t more than three thousand acre feet of flood waters that can be impounded off the watershed above us. That wouldn’t pay for building any kind of a dam.”
“And the devil himself couldn’t pump the water up out of Deep Cañon,” put in Gowan.
“The devil hasn’t much use for science,” said 166 Blake. “It has almost put him out of business. So he is not apt to be well up on modern engineering.”