“I’ve purchased a building,” Carver proclaimed. “You’ve which?” said Hinman. “What building?” “Pirie’s place; down in the next block,” Carver informed. “It’s got a grocery business on the ground floor and the grocer’s wife rents room upstairs.” He extended a contract and Hinman perused it, observing that Carver had agreed to purchase at three thousand dollars, paying six hundred down and a like amount each year. “I’d rented my little shack,” Carver explained. “Only to find that there wasn’t a room for rent in town; not one! It was either buy a place of my own or set up.” “It’ll save you considerable room rent,” Hinman agreed, “you being in town easy three nights out of the year. But what’s the final object?” “Each season those calves will be worth more and I can borrow enough additional against them to meet the payments,” Carver pointed out. “Meantime the grocer pays me thirty dollars rent money every month, which gives me a steady income to live off till such time as I can turn the building at a profit and buy a tract of land to run those calves on.” “I didn’t know your ambitions run toward owning land,” said Hinman. “But now since I’ve come into so much surplus fence wire,” Carver explained, “it looks like the only economical thing to do is to acquire a piece of land to set inside it.” “Son, you’ve mapped out a self-operating business,” Nate Younger congratulated. “All you have to do now is to stand back and watch it ripen. Meantime why don’t you read up on Belgian hares?” He handed over the sum due for back wages and Carver studied the two checks reflectively. “This surplus now,” he said. “I was figuring to put into horses. They’ll almost give you horses nowadays just to come and drive them off. If you don’t mind my throwing a few head up on your range, I’ll buy up a little bunch and pay you fifty cents a head for pasture fees, agreeing to get ’em off your grass November first.” “We’d better let him put ’em on, Joe,” Nate agreed. “It’s that much more security for that loan.” Even under favorable circumstances the horse market was poor and now with all those recently combed from the Strip as a surplus, horses could be purchased at one’s own price. For a week Carver rode early and late. The average run of Indian ponies were selling for less than five dollars a head but it was not this class of horse flesh which Carver sought. He selected young mares and geldings, ranging from eleven to twelve hundred pounds in weight, which would serve for light work stock, and eventually he drove fifty head well toward the northern extremity of Hinman’s range. They had cost him an average of ten dollars apiece and he had paid cash for half of them, issuing verbal promises to pay for the rest. He rode back into Caldwell with something over a hundred dollars in his pocket.