"Rogeen"--Reedy laid the smoking cigar on some papers on his desk and faced Bob--"I've had my eye on you for some time. I am buying up leases across the line. I need a good man to work over there. What is Dayton paying you?" "Twenty a week." Bob was surprised at the turn of the conversation. "I'll give you a hundred and fifty a month to start, and there'll be a fine chance for promotion." "What am I to do?" inquired Bob. "Here is the whole thing in an eggshell. No doubt you are acquainted with the situation over the line. You know, excepting one or two big concessions, no Americans own land on the Mexican side. The land is all farmed under leases and sub-leases. If a Chink or a Jap or a wandering American hayseed wants to open up a patch of the desert, he takes a five-year lease. As it costs him from ten to twenty dollars an acre to clear off the mesquite, level the sand hummocks, and get his ditches ready for water, he pays only one dollar rent the first year, two dollars the second, and so on. "Now"--Reedy picked up his cigar, puffed a time or two, and looked speculatively over Bob's head--"if a fellow wants to speculate on the Mexican side, he doesn't deal in land; he buys and sells leases. That is my business. Of course, once in a while I take over a crop that is planted or partly raised, because I have to do it to get the lease. But you can say on general principles I'm about as much interested in farming as a ground hog is in Easter. "The price of cotton has been low, and for various and sundry other reasons"--Reedy squinted his large eyes a little mysteriously--"a lot of the ranchers over there after getting their land in good shape have got cold feet and are willing to sell leases that have three or four years yet to run for nearly nothing. "I'm acquiring a bunch of them and am going to make a fortune out of them. One of these days the price of cotton will take a jump, and I'll be subleasing ten thousand acres of land at ten dollars an acre that cost me three. "Now what I want you for"--he brought his attention down squarely to Rogeen--"is to buy leases for me--I'll give you a list of what I want and the prices I'll pay. If you get a lease for less, I'll give you half the rake-off in addition to your wages." Bob thought fast. This looked like a fine opportunity; perhaps he was worth more as a buyer than as a salesman. "I'll have a try at it," he said. "But I won't sign up for any length of time until I see how it goes." "That suits me," Reedy assented readily. His one fear had been that Bob might want a term contract. "I'll see Dayton," Bob arose, "and let you know how soon he can let me off." Dayton liked Bob and hated to lose him, but was one of those employers who prefer to suffer some inconvenience or loss rather than stand in the way of a young man's advancement.