The other chuckled. "You bet. Dell ain't the man to let a little chance like this slip by him. These _paisanos_ look on him as a sort of 'little father' and borrow money of him with utter heedlessness of the day of reckoning. He jollies them along and tells 'em they're good fellows and hard workers, and he's sure they'll be able to pay when the time comes. Of course they never pay back a blessed _peso_, and Baxter gets the ranch. I'll bet it won't be long till he'll be exploiting a big land improvement company and selling these 'doby farms for ten times what they cost him." The talk of the two men drifted into politics, and presently Conrad heard them discussing Bancroft's loyal support of Baxter for Congress. "He's got to do it," said one of them. "Dell's been loaning him money and taking mortgages until Bancroft couldn't do anything else if he wanted to. Dell knows that Bancroft's support is a mighty important asset on account of the confidence people have in him, and Dell's been careful to cinch it good and tight." As Curtis bought an Albuquerque morning paper from the train-boy he thought indignantly, "That's all poppycock! Aleck's got too much grit to let anybody throttle him with a few dirty _pesos_. Hullo! What's this about Jenkins?" His eye had caught the name of the man he wished to see in a column of local news. As he read, "Rutherford W. Jenkins came down from Las Vegas yesterday and is stopping at the Metropolitan," his face shone with satisfaction. "Good luck!" he thought. "We'll be in Albuquerque in half an hour, and I'll go for my man like a steer on the prod!" At the hotel he found Jenkins, with a number of other men, smoking and talking on the porch. He did not expect to be remembered, for they had met only once, months before. But Jenkins came forward with his hand outstretched in greeting. "How do you do, Mr. Conrad! You don't get up to this part of the Territory very often; but we're always glad to see you." "Thank you, Mr. Jenkins. I've come this time especially to see you, and as soon as you have a moment or two to spare I'd like a private conversation." "Certainly! With pleasure! Just excuse me for a minute, will you, till I finish up the business I have with these men, and then we'll go up to my room."