o trail his visitor. Out in the hall I met my dear friend, Don
Nicolas Sandoval, the sheriff of San Marcos County, and delegated the
job to him. Don Nicolas trailed this stranger to the First National
Bank of El Toro and observed him in conference with the vice-president;
from the First National Bank of El Toro Don Nicolas shadowed his man to
the office of the president of the South Coast Power Corporation, in
Los Angeles.

"We immediately opened negotiations with the Central California Power
Company and were received with open arms. But, strange to relate, we
heard no more from the South Coast Power Corporation. Very strange,
indeed, in view of the fact that my attorney had assured their
representative of my very great desire to discuss the deal if and when
an offer should be made me."

John Parker was smiling broadly. "Hot, red hot, son," he assured
Farrel. "Good nose for a long, cold trail."

"I decided to smoke you out, so arbitrarily I terminated negotiations
with the Central California Power Company. It required all of my own
courage and some of Bill Conway's to do it, but--we did it. Within
three days our Los Angeles friend again arrived in El Toro and
submitted an offer higher than the one made us by the Central
California Power Company. So then I decided to shadow you, the
president of the South Coast Power Corporation, and the president of
the Central California Power Company. On the fifteenth day of October,
at eight o'clock, p.m., all three of you met in the office of your
attorney in El Toro, and when this was reported to me, I sat down and
did some thinking, with the following result:

"The backing so mysteriously given Bill Conway had you worried. You
abandoned all thought of securing the ranch by foreclosure, and my
careless, carefree, indifferent attitude confirmed you in this. Who,
but one quite certain of his position, would waste his time watching a
race-horse trained? I knew then that news of my overtures to the
Central California people were immediately reported to the South Coast
people. Evidently you had a spy on the Central California payroll, or
else you and your associates controlled both companies. This last
hypothesis seemed reasonable, in view of the South Coast Power
Corporation's indifference when it seemed that I might do business with
the Central California people, and the sudden revival of the South
Coast interest when it appeared that negotiations with the Central