"I've got a chance for something big." He got up and walked, holding the fiddle by the neck, swinging it back and forth. "If I put it through, it will be a fortune; but if I fail I'll be in debt world without end--mortgaged all the rest of my life!" Walking back and forth before her in the starlight he told Imogene Chandler of the big opportunity--of the rare combination of circumstances which made it possible for him, without property or backing, to borrow one hundred thousand dollars for a crop; and marshalled his reasons for belief in its success. "The water might fail," she suggested, when he had finished and sat down again with the fiddle across his knee. "Yes, it might," he admitted. "The Chinamen might get into trouble among themselves or with the Mexicans and leave you at a critical time." "Possibly." "The duty might be raised on cotton," she added. "Yes," he confessed. "But," she continued, "there is one thing much more likely than any of these--a thing fairly certain. Reedy Jenkins will fight you in every way he can invent. First he'll fight to get your money; and then he'll fight you just for hate." "I have thought of that," Bob again got up, moved by the agitation of doubt. If it were his own money to be risked he would not hesitate a moment--but one hundred thousand dollars of another man's money and his own reputation! "For these reasons," continued Imogene Chandler, "I advise you to go into it--and _you'll_ win. "Now play to me." CHAPTER XXI Imogene Chandler had spoken most confidently to Bob of his success. But after he was gone she began to be pestered by uneasy doubts--which is the way of a woman. She and her father had been compelled to operate on small capital. They had figured, or rather Imogene had, dollar at a time. This new venture of Rogeen's rather appalled her. A hundred thousand of borrowed money! It was almost unthinkable. Anywhere else but in this land of surprises such a proposition would seem entirely fantastic. With so much involved any disastrous turn would leave him hopelessly in debt. And besides--her thoughts took a more uneasy turn--she felt it was going to put him in danger. Reedy Jenkins and his Mexican associates would be very bitter over Bob's getting the Red Butte--and they might do anything. The next evening, when Noah Ezekiel came over, Imogene had not gone to her shack. "Sit down, Noah," she said, "I want to talk to you." "That's what my maw used to say when I'd been swimmin' on Sunday," observed the hill billy as he let his lank form down on the bench. Imogene laughed. "Well, I'm not going to scold you for breaking the Sabbath or getting your feet wet, or forgetting to shut the gate. What I want, Noah, is to get your opinion." "It's funny about opinions," remarked Noah impersonally to the stars. "Somebody is always gettin' your opinion just to see how big a fool you are, and how smart they are."