BY MARGARET INNES. CHAPTER XI. HARD WORK FOR THE MEN—HARDER WORK STILL FOR THE WOMEN—THE CISTERN—RATTLESNAKES—THE GARDEN—HOMESICKNESS—PIPE-LAYING. The ordinary business man at home in England would think it rather a mad suggestion if his friend were to prophesy that some day he would have to set to and make his own roads, the drive up to his house, lay his own water-pipes from the main, build his own rain-water cistern and cesspool, dig and plant his own garden, and fence that in too. I think he would be equally surprised if he could realise how quickly and easily he would adapt himself to such unaccustomed work, and how well he could accomplish it. To the man who loves an outdoor life, and is clever with his hands, and has ingenuity, too, and some skill in creating something out of nothing, “making history,” there is much zest and enjoyment in all this. But, of course, it is very hard work; and when the sun is fierce (which it usually is), the glare and heat are most trying, out on the perfectly shadeless stretches of land. The body does not accustom itself easily to these new labours, and the new burden must not be laid upon it too heavily; all the health-giving power of ranch life depends largely upon this precaution. Therefore the question of being able to pay for necessary help is a very important one. It is pitiful to see the weary, broken struggles of men untrained and unaccustomed to the heavy physical work of a ranch, and unable to pay for help. A breakdown, more or less serious, is almost certain, when the work all falls behind, and things become more and more hopeless. It is a great mistake for a delicate man, who has broken down at his office work at home in England, to come out here to ranch, thinking to recover his health in the open-air life, but not having at the same time the means to pay for help, nor the capital to be able to wait the necessary years till his ranch can yield an income. Of course, I am not speaking of the man born and bred to such work at home; he will find a true land of promise here; the pay he can command (one dollar a day and his board), will soon enable him, if he is a thrifty fellow, to buy a bit of land and build a home of his own, such as he could not dream of in the old country; and the work is what he has always been accustomed to, and for which his body has been trained for generations. But for the man of gentle birth and breeding it is a very different story. He would be better shut up in an office at home.