FIRST DAYS IN TUCSON 197 



long-handled spade against this sea of troubles, 

 appeared to have been working hard to repair 

 the mischief. At that moment, however, he had 

 given over the attempt in despair and was lifting 

 his boots, first one, then the other, out of the 

 mire and scraping them, rather ineffectually, 

 with the spade. 



I ought to have known better, but it is easy 

 to see the comical side of other people's misfor- 

 tunes, and I remarked in a cheerful tone : 



" Well, well, you seem to have water to burn." 



Thereupon other floodgates were opened, and 

 out poured a stream of language, the greater part 

 of it too " colloquial " for print. The substance 

 of it all was that a Mexican (the opprobrious 

 word being dwelt upon and forcibly qualified) 

 had come in the night and let on the water, 

 without giving him, the farmer, any notice of the 

 unseasonable action. Now the water was all. over 

 the road, and all over the yard, and close up to 

 the back door of the house. He had sent for a 

 man to help him. 



Seeing nothing better to do, I picked my steps 

 among the dust-bounded streams as best I was 

 able, and passed by on the other side. I had al- 

 ways understood irrigation to be a kind of pre- 

 dictable and controllable rain, but it appeared 

 that, if this were the rule, the rule had exceptions. 



