"Well, we will figure that out too when we get at it," and so saying, they returned to the house, and clearing off the table, sat down with pencil and paper to draw up the form of their first contract. To the uninitiated the process of removing sagebrush from and plowing land would be simple enough, and under ordinary circumstances and over a small area it would be, but in this instance it was different. The land was not a great ways off, a few miles at best, from Gully's home, but too far to go and come each day, as the working hours during the winter were extremely short, and too much time would be lost on the road, and besides, the amount of the land to be prepared was unusually large for one undertaking, as an entire section, some six hundred and forty acres, were to be gotten ready for seeding at the very earliest possible time. Gully and Norton had taken all this into consideration, and the extra preparation that was required for the work was an additional expense that must be considered. They knew that should they get the contract they must establish a camp on the land in question from which to carry on their operations. There must be shelter erected for both those engaged in the work and the stock that would be required for plowing, for they knew that the snow might come at any time. Gully did not expect another blizzard as severe as the one encountered the winter before, as he had learned that they were not of yearly occurrence, but he had told Jack of the terrible one they had experienced on that occasion, that in case one did come they would not be unprepared. Long into the night they worked, figuring out each little detail and drawing a diagram of the land. They allotted certain parcels of it to separate individuals on whom they expected to call for assistance. They knew that any of their neighbors on whom they called would be only too glad of the opportunity to earn the money by clearing their allotted portion. To those of their acquaintances who had no horses was assigned the task of gathering and piling the brush for burning. The arrangements as planned by Norton brought Gully to the front as a public benefactor, and the clearing of the land a community affair. He so arranged each little detail as to make Travis Gully appear as the moving spirit in this distribution of the opportunity for earning a few dollars among his neighbors, and so well did he contrive to eliminate himself from all but the responsibility that his own connection with the work was almost entirely lost sight of.