Annixter passed into the outside office, on the other side of
the wire partition he noted the figure of a man at the counter in
conversation with one of the clerks. There was something familiar to
Annixter's eye about the man's heavy built frame, his great shoulders
and massive back, and as he spoke to the clerk in a tremendous, rumbling
voice, Annixter promptly recognised Dyke.

There was a meeting. Annixter liked Dyke, as did every one else in
and about Bonneville. He paused now to shake hands with the discharged
engineer and to ask about his little daughter, Sidney, to whom he knew
Dyke was devotedly attached.

"Smartest little tad in Tulare County," asserted Dyke. "She's getting
prettier every day, Mr. Annixter. THERE'S a little tad that was just
born to be a lady. Can recite the whole of 'Snow Bound' without ever
stopping. You don't believe that, maybe, hey? Well, it's true. She'll be
just old enough to enter the Seminary up at Marysville next winter, and
if my hop business pays two per cent. on the investment, there's where
she's going to go."

"How's it coming on?" inquired Annixter.

"The hop ranch? Prime. I've about got the land in shape, and I've
engaged a foreman who knows all about hops. I've been in luck. Everybody
will go into the business next year when they see hops go to a dollar,
and they'll overstock the market and bust the price. But I'm going to
get the cream of it now. I say two per cent. Why, Lord love you, it
will pay a good deal more than that. It's got to. It's cost more than
I figured to start the thing, so, perhaps, I may have to borrow
somewheres; but then on such a sure game as this--and I do want to make
something out of that little tad of mine."

"Through here?" inquired Annixter, making ready to move off.

"In just a minute," answered Dyke. "Wait for me and I'll walk down the
street with you."

Annixter grumbled that he was in a hurry, but waited, nevertheless,
while Dyke again approached the clerk.

"I shall want some empty cars of you people this fall," he explained.
"I'm a hop-raiser now, and I just want to make sure what your rates on
hops are. I've been told, but I want to make sure. Savvy?" There was a
long delay while the clerk consulted the tariff schedules, and Annixter
fretted impatiently. Dyke, growing uneasy, leaned heavily on his elbows,
watching the clerk anxiously. If the tariff was exorbitant, he saw his
plans brought to naught, his money jeopardised, the little