“Yes,” said the latter; but he did not take up the money.

“Oh, there’ll be more,” suggested Mr. Ellsworth.  “This business ought to net you between five and ten thousand dollars this year.  It might mean more than that if we got into town without a fight.”

“That would be about the only way you would get in at all,” and Dan Anderson smiled incomprehensibly.

“Exactly!  And now, since you are our counsel—­” Barkley spoke with an increased firmness—­“we want to know your idea on the right-of-way question.  What’s the nature of the titles in that town, anyhow?”

“As near as I can tell,” replied Dan Anderson, “since you retain me and ask my legal opinion, the fundamental title to the valley of Heart’s Desire lies in the ability of every fellow there to hit a tin can at forty yards with a six-shooter.  There’s hardly a tin can in the street that you could cook a meal in,” he added plaintively.

“I see,” said Barkley, his laughter a little forced.  “But now, I heard there never was a town site filed on.”

“There was a story,” replied Dan Anderson, ruminatingly, “that Jack Wilson laid out a town there soon after he made the Homestake strike.  He had McDonald, the deputy surveyor, plat it out on a piece of brown paper,—­which was the only sort they had,—­and Jack started over with the plat to file at the county seat.  He got caught in a rain and used the paper to start a fire with.  After that he forgot about it, and after that again, he died; so there never was any town site.  The boys just built their houses where they felt like it; and since then they have been so busy about other things—­croquet, music, embroidery, antelope hunting, and the like—­that they haven’t had time to think about town lots or town sites, or anything of that sort.”

Barkley’s eyes gleamed.  “That will simplify matters very much,” said he.

“You really do need local counsel,” Dan Anderson observed.  “On the contrary of that, it will complicate matters very much.”

“Well, we’ll see about that,” rejoined Barkley, grimly.  “We’ll see if a little mining camp can hold up a railroad corporation the size of this!  But why don’t you put your money in your pocket?  It’s yours, man.”

Dan Anderson slowly picked up the bills, folded them, and tucked them into a pocket.  “This,” said he, “is a great deal more than the entire circulating medium of Heart’s Desire.  I’m likely to become a disturbing factor up there.”

“That’s what we want you to become,” said Barkley.  “We know there’re a lot of good mining claims in there, especially the coal lands on the east side of the valley.  It isn’t the freight and passenger traffic that we’re after—­we want to get hold of those mines.  Why, the inside gang of the Southern Pacific—­you’ll keep this a professional secret, of course—­has told us that they’ll take coal from us for their whole system west of Houston.  In a couple of years there’ll be a town there of eight or ten thousand people.  Why, man, it’s the chance of your life.  And here’s Mr. Ellsworth putting you in on the ground floor.”