"You oughtn't to say that to me, Helen, for the sake of old times--if for nothing more," he added deliberately. Helen understood the conditional "if", as well as the expression of his eyes. A suggestion of red tinged the clear olive of her cheeks. "This is no place for confidences, even if I had any to exchange!" "Later on then." Ralph's lips were decided. "Who is your friend?" he added. "Uncle Sid? He is an old friend of Elijah's. He and his sister are stopping at the Vista." There sounded the leisurely chut-chut of the lumbering wagons. Ralph rose to his feet. "There come the wagons." At the wagon, Helen insisted upon riding in the driver's seat. Uncle Sid was stowed in the rear. Ralph flashed a look toward Helen. "My horse won't lead," he declared. "You ride him in, Jim, and I'll drive." If Ralph had counted upon a quiet talk with Helen during the ride to Ysleta, he was certainly disappointed. Uncle Sid's position in the background was the only thing in the rear which he accepted. In the matter of conversation, he was well to the front. "What's 'Lige Berl doin' in this country anyway?" he questioned Ralph. "'Lige?" repeated Ralph. "Oh, he dreamed a dream; was five years at it. He dreamed of oranges, big fellows without seeds; of mountains with too much water and of deserts without enough. Then he dreamed of bunching the three together for their mutual benefit. He convinced some Eastern capital that it was no dream after all. Now we are trying to make good." Uncle Sid grunted. "That's tolerably condensed." Ralph laughed at Uncle Sid's disapproval. "If you are really interested, you'd better let us show you around a little. You can see a good deal better than I can tell you." Uncle Sid's face had lost its humorous wrinkles. "'Lige is really doin' something worth while out here, is he?" "He's got me on the jump. That's a good deal in itself." "What are you doin'?" "Oh," Ralph laughed. "I'm being bossed." Uncle Sid looked sharply at Ralph. "If I was on the quarter deck as I used to be, an' saw you afore the mast, I'd think over my orders before I handed 'em to you. If 'Lige has any sense with his dreamin', he'll do the same." "Helen's helping 'Lige to boss me. When he isn't around, she does it alone." Uncle Sid looked at Helen. The humorous wrinkles returned to his face. "What's the matter with you? You swallowed your tongue?" "No; I'm holding it." She answered Uncle Sid's look as well as his words. The lumbering wagon drew up in front of the Rio Vista. Before Ralph could dispose of the reins, Helen was on the ground and ascending the steps of the hotel. At the top she paused, speaking to Ralph. "I'm going to take Uncle Sid out to the works before long." Then she entered the door. Uncle Sid turned to Ralph. "I don't guess you're bein' bossed quite so much as you say." He slowly clambered from the wagon and stood, looking at Ralph, his hand on the wheel. "I ain't askin' questions just for fun," he began.