He went with the young man, whose name he learned was Johnny Calvert, and had dinner with him at the cafeteria where they had met at noon.  Johnny talked a great deal, ate a great deal, and unconsciously convinced Peter that he was an honest young man who was exactly what he represented himself to be.  He had papers which proved his claim upon three hundred and twenty acres of land in Dona Ana County, New Mexico.  He also had a map upon which the location of his claim was marked with a pencil.  Malpais, he said, was the nearest railroad point; not much of a point, but you could ride there and back in a day, if you got up early enough in the morning.

Peter asked about the climate and the altitude.  Johnny was a bit hazy about the latter, but it was close to mountains, he said, and it was as high as El Paso, anyway, maybe higher.  The climate was like all the rest of the country, coming in streaks of good and bad.  Peter, gaining confidence as Johnny talked, spoke of his daughter and her impending doom, and Johnny, instantly grasping the situation, waxed eloquent.  Why, that would be just the place, he declared.  Dry as a bone, the weather was most of the year; hot—­the lungers liked it hot and dry, he knew.  And when it was cold, it was sure bracing, too.  Why, the country was alive with health-seekers.  At that, most of ’em got well—­them that didn’t come too late.

That last sentence threw Peter into a panic.  What if he dawdled along and kept Helen May waiting until it was too late?  By that time I think Peter had pretty clearly decided how he was to remove the mountain of difficulty.  He must have, or he would not have had the courage to drive the bargain to a conclusion in so short a time.

Drive it he did, for at nine o’clock he let himself into the place he called home and startled Helen May with the announcement that he had bought her a claim in New Mexico, where she was to live out of doors like an Indian and get over that cough, and grow strong as any peasant woman; and where Vic was going to keep out of mischief and learn to amount to something.  He did not say what the effect would be upon himself; Peter was not accustomed to considering himself except as a provider of comfort for others.

Helen May did not notice the omission. “Bought a claim?” she repeated and added grimly:  “What with?”

“With two hundred dollars cash,” Peter replied, smiling queerly.  “It’s all settled, Babe, and the claim is to stand in your name.  Everything is attended to but the legal signatures before a notary.  I was glad my money was in the all-night bank, because I was not compelled to wait until Monday to get it for young Calvert.  You will have the relinquishment of his right to the claim, Babe, and a small adobe house with sheds and yards and a good spring of living water.  In building up the place into a profitable investment you will be building up your health, which is the first and greatest consideration.  I—­you must not go the way your mother went.  You will not, because you will live in the open and throw off the—­ah—­incipient—­”