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Show THAT BARGAIN Chapter V When Mother asked, "What about the other townsite?" Father couldn't sit still. He jumped to his feet and paced to and fro in excitement. I'll retell it or the gist of the story as Father told it. That first night in Nada he had almost unbelievable good fortune. In the Nash-Avery "hotel" he'd looked once more at the company photos of waisthigh grain waving in some unspecified place "near" the Escalante, of alfalfa raked into bulky windows in the same mythical fields. He'd handled the jars of plump kernels of wheat, oats, barley presented as proof of the productivity of the valley. Probably these proofs came from Minersville or Cedar or some other well-watered Mormon village. Then he'd gone to bed early to dream of what must come from this soil of unlimited promise!--fruitful farms, hamlets, cities . His reveries did not let him go to sleep quickly. Also the partitions around the bed-spaces in the flimsy "hotel" were only thin cotton cloth, and noises filtered through readily- He became aware that two men in the adjoining "bedroom" were deep in apparently secret discussion. He really pricked up his ears when he heard one of the low voices declare impressively, "That's the best opportunity in this whole valley! Why don't you grab it off yourself?" "Wouldn't you know I would if I could wangle it!" the other answered fervently. "But I'm land-poor. My funds are tied up in other lands already." |