he was moved to qualify it.

"Hard times," he repeated, a troubled, perplexed note in his voice;
"well, yes--yes. I suppose the road DOES have hard times, maybe.
Everybody does--of course. I didn't mean that exactly. I believe in
being just and fair to everybody. I mean that we've got to use their
lines and pay their charges good years AND bad years, the P. and S. W.
being the only road in the State. That is--well, when I say the only
road--no, I won't say the ONLY road. Of course there are other roads.
There's the D. P. and M. and the San Francisco and North Pacific, that
runs up to Ukiah. I got a brother-in-law in Ukiah. That's not much of a
wheat country round Ukiah though they DO grow SOME wheat there, come to
think. But I guess it's too far north. Well, of course there isn't MUCH.
Perhaps sixty thousand acres in the whole county--if you include barley
and oats. I don't know; maybe it's nearer forty thousand. I don't
remember very well. That's a good many years ago. I----"

But Annixter, at the end of all patience, turned to Genslinger, cutting
short the old man:

"Oh, rot! Of course the railroad will sell at two-fifty," he cried.
"We've got the contracts."

"Look to them, then, Mr. Annixter," retorted Genslinger significantly,
"look to them. Be sure that you are protected."

Soon after this Genslinger took himself away, and Derrick's Chinaman
came in to set the table.

"What do you suppose he meant?" asked Broderson, when Genslinger was
gone.

"About this land business?" said Annixter. "Oh, I don't know. Some tom
fool idea. Haven't we got their terms printed in black and white in
their circulars? There's their pledge."

"Oh, as to pledges," murmured Broderson, "the railroad is not always TOO
much hindered by those."

"Where's Osterman?" demanded Annixter, abruptly changing the subject as
if it were not worth discussion. "Isn't that goat Osterman coming down
here to-night?"

"You telephoned him, didn't you, Presley?" inquired Magnus.

Presley had taken Princess Nathalie upon his knee stroking her long,
sleek hair, and the cat, stupefied with beatitude, had closed her eyes
to two fine lines, clawing softly at the corduroy of Presley's trousers
with alternate paws.

"Yes, sir," returned Presley. "He said he would be here."

And as he spoke, young Osterman arrived.

He was a young fellow, but singularly inclined to baldness. His ears,
very red and large, stuck out at right angles from either side of h