Part 26 (1/2)
”What brought you into our neighborhood?” Harding asked.
Davies smiled.
”I'm always looking for business, and I find it pays to keep an eye on my customers. Some of them have a trick of lighting out when things go wrong, and leaving a few rusty implements to settle their debts.
Financing small farmers isn't always profitable.”
”They can't take their land away,” Devine said. ”I guess you don't often lose much in the end.”
”Land!” exclaimed Davies. ”I've money locked up in holdings I can't sell, and have to pay big taxes on.”
”You'll sell them all right by and by, but of course you know that,”
Harding replied. He gave the land-agent a shrewd look. ”You have a call or two to make at Allenwood, and would rather get there in the afternoon?”
”True! The boys might find it embarra.s.sing if I showed up just now.
They're willing to do business with me, and when they're in Winnipeg they'll take a cigar or play a game of pool; but asking me to lunch is a different matter.” He continued smiling, but Hester, who was watching him closely, thought there was something sinister in his amus.e.m.e.nt as he added: ”They stick to the notions they brought from the Old Country, and I don't know that they'll find them pay.”
”I shouldn't imagine all the business you'd get at Allenwood would have made a trip from Winnipeg worth while,” Harding said.
”That's so,” Davies agreed, as if eager to explain. ”I'd a call in Brandon, and wanted to look up some customers in the outlying settlements. When I got so far, I thought I'd come on and see how this country's opening up. I notice the boys are doing pretty well.”
”You don't mean at Allenwood? You haven't been there yet.”
”No; this is my first trip, and I expect it will be my last. Is there much doing yonder?”
”The land's all right. They hauled out some fine wheat last fall.
Stock's better than the usual run, and they've the finest light horses I've seen.”
”That's more in their line than farming,” Davies replied. ”You wouldn't call raising horses a business proposition just now?”
Hester thought the men were fencing, trying to learn something about each other's real opinions. Craig looked careless, but Hester was not deceived. She knew him well, and saw that he was thinking.
”Prices are certainly low; but it strikes me you had better keep out of Colonel Mowbray's way,” Harding said. ”If he suspected that any of the boys had dealings with you, he'd make trouble, and probably insist upon paying you off.”
Davies looked hard at him. He was not prepared to admit that he had lent money at Allenwood, but he could not tell how much Harding knew.
”One seldom objects to being paid a debt. Has the Colonel much money to spare?”
”I don't know; I can't claim to be a friend of his.”
”Well, it doesn't matter, as I've nothing to do with him. Now that I'm here, I'll say that I'd be glad to accommodate you and your partner if you want to extend your operations or hold on for better prices at any time. You're putting in a big crop.”
”Thanks; I don't think we'll make a deal,” Devine drawled. ”We don't farm for the benefit of another man. When I haul my wheat to the elevators I want the money myself, and not to turn it over to somebody else, who'll leave me a few pennies to go on with.”
Davies took his leave soon afterward, and Devine and Harding went back to the plow. They had some trouble in keeping steam, and after a little the heavy engine sank into the soft soil as they crossed a hollow where the melting snow had run. The ribbed wheels went in deeper as they crushed down the boggy mold, and ground up the fence posts the men thrust under them. Before long they were embedded to the axle, and Harding turned off the steam.
”Bring the wagon and drop me off a spade as you pa.s.s,” he said. ”I'll dig her out while you drive to the bluff and cut the biggest poplar logs you can find.”
When Devine hurried away he sat down and lighted his pipe. Until he got the spade there was nothing to be done and much to think about. To begin with, Davies' visit had turned his attention upon a matter that had already occupied his thoughts, and proved it worth consideration. The Allenwood homesteads were the best in the country, the settlement was fortunately located, and its inhabitants were people of intelligence.