ory, and, as she mentally back-tracked on their conversation, the
only striking remark of his which she recalled was his whimsical
assurance that he knew why young turkeys are hard to raise in the fall.
She smiled to herself.

"Well, Kay, did you find him pleasant company?"

She looked up and discovered her father slipping into the chair so
lately vacated by the object of her thoughts.

"'Lo, pop! You mean the ex-soldier?" He nodded. "Queerest man I've
ever met. But he is pleasant company."

"I thought so. Tell me, daughter: What you were smiling about just
now."

"He said he knew why young turkeys are hard to raise in the fall."

"Why are they?"

"I don't know, dear. He didn't tell me. Can you?"

"The problem is quite beyond me, Kay." He unfolded his napkin.
"Splendid-looking young chap, that! Struck me he ought to have more in
his head than frivolous talk about the difficulty of rearing young
turkeys."

"I think he has a great deal more in his head than that. In fact, I do
not understand why he should have mentioned young turkeys at all,
because he's a cattleman. And he comes from the San Gregorio valley."

"Indeed! What's his name?"

"He didn't tell me. But he knows all about the ranch you took over
from the Gonzales estate."

"But I didn't foreclose on that. It was the Farrel estate."

"He called it something else--the Palomares rancho, I think."

"Gonzales owns the Palomares rancho, but the Palomar rancho belonged to
old Don Miguel Farrel."

"Was he the father of the boy they call 'Don Mike'--he who was killed
in Siberia?"'

"The same."

"Why did you have to foreclose on his ranch, father?"

"Well, the interest had been unpaid for two years, and the old man was
getting pretty feeble; so, after the boy was killed, I realized that
was the end of the Farrel dynasty and that the mortgage would never be
paid. Consequently, in self-protection, I foreclosed. Of course,
under the law, Don Miguel had a year's grace in which to redeem the
property, and during that year I couldn't take possession without first
proving that he was committing waste upon it. However, the old man
died of a broken heart a few months after receiving news of his son's
death, and, in the protection of my interest, I was forced to petition
the court to grant me permission to enter into possession. It was my
duty to protect the equity of the heirs, if any."

"Are there any heirs?"

"None that we have been ab