"I suppose she's out for big money?" queried Hanson.

"She'll get all she can, I guess," Jimmy chuckled. "But," he added
boastfully, "she can make big money by staying right here. Look at what
she's pulled in to-night. And there's her father, old Gallito, he's got
more than one good 'prospect,' and is foreman beside of one of the big
mines in the mountains. And her mother, there, that played the violin,
she's got some nice irrigated land, and even Hughie, that played, he
makes money playing for dances in the different towns. Oh, they're smart
folks."

"Is Hughie the brother?" asked Hanson, looking at the boy, who sat
listlessly at the piano.

"No. Adopted." Jimmy spoke briefly. "Born blind, but let me tell you, he
sees considerable more than those of us who have eyes."

"Well, the Pearl's a certain winner," said the manager earnestly, "a
flower of the desert, a what-you-may-call-'em, a cactus bloom."

"Correct, and don't forget the spines," chuckled Jimmy. "Looks as if
they were all out to-night, too. Kind of sulky, ain't she? Well, did you
say you was waitin' to be introduced? I'll take you up and ask her. Like
as not, she'll turn you down. She ain't looked at you once, I notice. I
been watching her."

"So've I," said Hanson good humoredly, "but you're wrong, son"--there
was a brief, triumphant flash of his light eyes--"she's looked at me
twice, took me all in, too. Numbered the hairs of my head and the size