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He was not sure that such an arrangement would warrant one in regarding Hawtrey as Wyllard's partner, but he meant to gather a little more information upon that point by and bye. "If wheat keeps on dropping there won't be any margin at all next year, and that's what I'm inclined to figure on," he said. "There are, however, ways a man with nerve could turn it to account."
In the feeble light, Wyllard's face showed gray except where a broad red stain had spread across it. Dampier cast a glance at him. "Get him below, and into his bunk, two of you," he commanded. The men carried him with difficulty, for the Selache lurched viciously each time a white-topped sea came up upon her quarter. As soon as it seemed advisable to leave the deck Dampier went down.
Then Agatha remembered the task she had in hand. It was a very inauspicious moment to set about it, but that could not be helped, and even for the man's own sake she felt that she must win him over. "There is one way, Gregory, in which I don't think it ought to be done," she said. "Yon took over Wyllard's obligations when you took the farm, and I think you should keep the two Morans on."
It coalesced, drew out again, and dropped swiftly, and the air was filled with the rush of wings; then there was a harsh crying and splashing, and she heard the troubled water lap among the reeds until deep silence closed in upon the sloo again. "I wonder," she said, "why they do it?" A rather curious smile crept into Wyllard's eyes.
Hamilton knows almost everything that's going on, and I got it out of him. He's a friend of Wyllard's, and seems vexed with Gregory." The others did not speak for a moment or two, and then Mrs. Hastings said: "Most of us don't keep much in the bank, and that expedition must have cost Harry several thousand dollars. How would Gregory get hold of the money before harvest?"
In the meanwhile, though neither of the men were aware of this, Sally had just got down from her waggon on the other side of the house, and another couple of teams were already growing larger upon the sweep of whitened prairie. As she entered the homestead she met Mrs. Nansen, and the latter informed her that Hawtrey was busy with Edmonds in Wyllard's room.
She recognized that there was a strain of grossness in him. "No," she responded, "that reason was not one which had any weight with me." Hawtrey's face darkened. "Then," he said grimly, "we'll get on to the third. Wyllard's credit is a precious thing to you; sooner than anything should cast a stain on it you would beg a favor from me.
The girl was touched with compassion, but there was another matter that must be mentioned, though she felt that the time was inopportune. "Miss Rawlinson, who had only a second-class ticket, insists upon being told how it is that she has been transferred to the saloon." Wyllard's eyes twinkled, but she noticed that he was wholly free from embarrassment, which was not quite the case with her.
The sun had dipped some little time ago, and already there was a wonderful exhilarating coolness in the air. Somehow the sight reminded her of another evening, when she had looked out across the prairie from a seat at Wyllard's table, almost a year ago.
"Well," she said drily, "I would like to think you were right about Harry; it would be a relief to me." Hawtrey, who said nothing further, presently drove away, and soon after he did so Agatha approached Mrs. Hastings. "There's something I must ask you," she said. "Has Gregory consented to take charge of Wyllard's farm?" "He has," said her companion in her dryest tone.
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