Wayne got his pipe and, lighting it, sat upon the edge of the table looking down at her through the smoke. "Six months ago," she went on, "I realised that Hume had underpaid me. Why?" She shrugged her shoulders. "I knew his breed. If he offers a dollar for a thing it's worth ten. I made investigations through an agent who came up to Dry Valley from San Francisco. He turned in his bill on time and that was about all. He was an ordinary man and consequently a fool. But, blind as a bat himself, he showed me a little light that set me thinking. A few days ago I came out myself." She snapped her fingers. "It didn't take me that long to get to the bottom of the whole thing." "What thing?" "The scheme Hume is promoting on the quiet to put water on the Dry Lands. The water is to come from your river. Are you in on the deal too?" Her question was as sudden as a sword thrust. "No," he answered. "Have they made you an offer for the water right?" "No." "That's funny." She frowned thoughtfully at him a moment, saying in a barely audible tone as though she were thinking aloud, "You don't look as though you were lying. Well, you expect an offer, don't you?" "Yes." "And when it comes, coming from Hume, you realise that he'll offer a very small fraction of what it is worth to him?" "I suppose so. That's business." "And, above all things in the world, Sledge Hume is a business man! Well, I won't ask what you'd do when the offer came, as you'd say that it was none of my affair. I've seen Ruf Ettinger and learned all he knows." He did not answer; he had suddenly resolved to see the drift of Helga Strawn's thoughts before he did a great deal of talking. "I have learned," came another of her abrupt thrusts, "that you and Hume are about as friendly as a cat and a dog." He merely looked at her enquiringly, drawing thoughtfully at his pipe. She smiled, turned from him back to the fire, settling a little more comfortably in her chair. "Hume is a crook." She said it calmly, dispassionately, positively. "It is in his blood. He couldn't help it if he tried. He isn't the kind to try. The deal he put over with me may have been nothing but clever business. On the other hand, considering that I was a relative, considering that there was going to be plenty of boodle for everybody, some people might say that there was an element of dishonesty in it. But what I am getting at is that the man in unscrupulous. Now, he's in the biggest business deal of his life. Chances in that sort of thing for crooked work are many. Ergo, Mr. Shandon, it's a fair bet that starting with a crooked deal he has gone on playing a crooked game. Do you begin to see why I'm here?" "Blackmail?" he said bluntly. "Yes," she said coolly. "There's no use quarrelling over a name." "If you imagine that I know anything about the man's private history--" "You've quarrelled openly with him. Everybody knows about it. What was the reason for your quarrel?"