see, I needed a little money. As I was tellin' you, I got right smart of
property, but no cash just now; nor any comin' till steer-sellin' time.
So I come down to Tucson on the rustle. Five banks in Tucson; four of
'em, countin' yours, turned me down cold."

"If you had got Bergman to sign with you--" Marsh began.

"Tell that to the submarines," said Pete. "Good irrigated land is better
than any man's name on a note; and I don't care who that man is. A man
might die or run away, or play the market. Land stays put. Well, after my
first glimpse of the cold shoulder I ciphered round a spell. I'm a great
hand to cipher round. Some one is out to down me; some one is givin' out
orders. Who? Mayer Zurich, I judged. He sold me a shoddy coat once. And
he wept because he couldn't loan me the money I wanted, himself. He's one
of these liers-in-wait you read about--Mayer is.

"So I didn't come to you till the last, bein' as Zurich was one of your
directors. I studied some more--and then I hunted up old Hank Bergman and
told him my troubles," said Pete suavely. "He expressed quite some
considerable solicitude. 'Why, Petey, this is a shockin' disclosure!' he
says. 'A banker is a man that makes a livin' loanin' other people's
money. Lots of marble and brass to a bank, salaries and other expenses.
Show me a bank that's quit lendin' money and I'll show you a bank that's
due to bust, _muy pronto!_ I got quite a wad in the Merchants and
Miners,' he says, 'and you alarm me. I'll give you a check for it, and
you go there first off to-morrow and see if they'll lend you what you
need. You got good security. If they ain't lendin',' he says, 'then you
just cash my check and invest it for me where it will be safe. I lose the
interest for only four days,' he says--'last Monday, the fifteenth, being
my quarter day. Hold out what you need for yourself.'