"Do me a favour, will you, Bob?" he cried in the first burst of his enthusiasm.
"Sure," answered Carruthers. "Just what, though? Cut that man Embry's liver out or what?"
"I'm forgetting Joe Embry this morning," said Steele. "After all he is beginning to strike me as the kind who, given a sufficiently long rope, will make a hangman's noose out of it. No," and his eyes were dancing; "just a little matter of business. Run over and have a talk with Miss Corliss of the Thunder River ranch. Get an option on Summit City!"
"What do you want Summit City for?" wondered Carruthers. "Before we get done we'll have run that place clean out of business …"
"Which, being no fool, she knows as well as we do. Hence this is the psychological moment to open negotiations. You'll get an option now dirt cheap."
"But we don't want the blamed town …"
"You don't. But I do. Just for about twenty-four hours. Bob. And I'll turn it over to … Can't you guess?"
"No. Who'd want it?"
"Dr. Gilchrist!"
"Dr. Gilchrist? Buy a defunct village? What's gone wrong with you, Bill Steele?"
But Steele only chuckled and, chuckling, explained in full. Dr. Gilchrist hated to think of wasting the summer in building a hospital; well, then, let him take the Summit City inn, already built and with a little alteration admirably suited for the purpose. He wanted neat, cheerful cottages? Let him take them as they had
