The Octopus | Page 4

a
standstill by the tank, preparatory to refilling.
"Yoost der men I look for, Mist'r Praicely," cried the other, twisting the
reins around the brake. "Yoost one minute, you wait, hey? I wanta talk
mit you."
Presley was impatient to be on his way again. A little more time wasted,
and the day would be lost. He had nothing to do with the management
of the ranch, and if Hooven wanted any advice from him, it was so
much breath wasted. These uncouth brutes of farmhands and petty
ranchers, grimed with the soil they worked upon, were odious to him
beyond words. Never could he feel in sympathy with them, nor with
their lives, their ways, their marriages, deaths, bickerings, and all the
monotonous round of their sordid existence.
"Well, you must be quick about it, Bismarck," he answered sharply.
"I'm late for dinner, as it is."

"Soh, now. Two minuten, und I be mit you." He drew down the
overhanging spout of the tank to the vent in the circumference of the
cart and pulled the chain that let out the water. Then he climbed down
from the seat, jumping from the tire of the wheel, and taking Presley by
the arm led him a few steps down the road.
"Say," he began. "Say, I want to hef some converzations mit you. Yoost
der men I want to see. Say, Caraher, he tole me dis morgen--say, he
tole me Mist'r Derrick gowun to farm der whole demn rench hisseluf
der next yahr. No more tenants. Say, Caraher, he tole me all der tenants
get der sach; Mist'r Derrick gowun to work der whole demn rench
hisseluf, hey? ME, I get der sach alzoh, hey? You hef hear about dose
ting? Say, me, I hef on der ranch been sieben yahr--seven yahr. Do I
alzoh----"
"You'll have to see Derrick himself or Harran about that, Bismarck,"
interrupted Presley, trying to draw away. "That's something outside of
me entirely."
But Hooven was not to be put off. No doubt he had been meditating his
speech all the morning, formulating his words, preparing his phrases.
"Say, no, no," he continued. "Me, I wanta stay bei der place; seven yahr
I hef stay. Mist'r Derrick, he doand want dot I should be ge-sacked.
Who, den, will der ditch ge-tend? Say, you tell 'um Bismarck hef gotta
sure stay bei der place. Say, you hef der pull mit der Governor. You
speak der gut word for me."
"Harran is the man that has the pull with his father, Bismarck,"
answered Presley. "You get Harran to speak for you, and you're all
right."
"Sieben yahr I hef stay," protested Hooven, "and who will der ditch
ge-tend, und alle dem cettles drive?"
"Well, Harran's your man," answered Presley, preparing to mount his
bicycle.

"Say, you hef hear about dose ting?"
"I don't hear about anything, Bismarck. I don't know the first thing
about how the ranch is run."
"UND DER PIPE-LINE GE-MEND," Hooven burst out, suddenly
remembering a forgotten argument. He waved an arm. "Ach, der
pipe-line bei der Mission Greek, und der waater-hole for dose cettles.
Say, he doand doo ut HIMSELLUF, berhaps, I doand tink."
"Well, talk to Harran about it."
"Say, he doand farm der whole demn rench bei hisseluf. Me, I gotta
stay."
But on a sudden the water in the cart gushed over the sides from the
vent in the top with a smart sound of splashing. Hooven was forced to
turn his attention to it. Presley got his wheel under way.
"I hef some converzations mit Herran," Hooven called after him. "He
doand doo ut bei hisseluf, den, Mist'r Derrick; ach, no. I stay bei der
rench to drive dose cettles."
He climbed back to his seat under the wagon umbrella, and, as he
started his team again with great cracks of his long whip, turned to the
painters still at work upon the sign and declared with some defiance:
"Sieben yahr; yais, sir, seiben yahr I hef been on dis rench. Git oop, you
mule you, hoop!"
Meanwhile Presley had turned into the Lower Road. He was now on
Derrick's land, division No. I, or, as it was called, the Home ranch, of
the great Los Muertos Rancho. The road was better here, the dust laid
after the passage of Hooven's watering-cart, and, in a few minutes, he
had come to the ranch house itself, with its white picket fence, its few
flower beds, and grove of eucalyptus trees. On the lawn at the side of
the house. he saw Harran in the act of setting out the automatic
sprinkler. In the shade of the house, by the porch, were two or three of

the greyhounds, part of the pack that were used to hunt down jack-
rabbits, and Godfrey, Harran's prize