"Well, fwhat do ye think av that? 'Tis the Seer himsilf, or I'm not
the son av me own mither. I was hearin' in Frisco, where I went the
last time I drawed me pay, that he was like to be on the S. an' C.
extension. 'Twas that that took me to San Felipe, bein' wishful to
get a job wid him again. Well, well, an' to think ut's the Seer
himsilf!"

"What's that you call him?"

"The Seer. I disremimber his other name but he's got wan all
shtraight an' proper. He's that kind. They call him the Seer because
av his talk av the great things that will be doin' in this country
av no rain at all whin ignorant savages like yersilf learn how to
use the wather that's in the rivers for irrigation. I've heard him
say mesilf that hundreds av thousands av acres av these big deserts
will be turned into farms, an' all that be what he calls
'Reclamation.' 'Twas for that some danged yellow-legged surveyor
give him the name, an' ut shtuck. But most av the engineers--the
rale engineers do ye mind--is wid him, though they do be jokin' him
the divil av a lot about what they calls his visions."

"He didn't _look_ like he was locoed," said Texas Joe thoughtfully,
"but he's sure some off on that there desert proposition as you'll
see before we lands in Rubio."

"I dunno--I've seen some quare things in me time in the way av big
jobs that nobody thought could be done at all. But lave ut go. 'Tis
not the likes av me an' you that's qualified to give judgment on
sich janiuses as the Seer, who, I heard tell, has the right to put