ut small. A good average pile, by
the time it was delivered on the ground, cost a twenty-dollar gold
piece, and these piles were used in unending thousands. All accessible
groves of mature eucalyptus were used, and as well, great rafts of pine
piles were towed down the coast from Peugeot Sound.

Not content with manufacturing the electricity for his street railways
in the old-fashioned way, in power-houses, Daylight organized the
Sierra and Salvador Power Company. This immediately assumed large
proportions. Crossing the San Joaquin Valley on the way from the
mountains, and plunging through the Contra Costa hills, there were many
towns, and even a robust city, that could be supplied with power, also
with light; and it became a street- and house-lighting project as well.
As soon as the purchase of power sites in the Sierras was rushed
through, the survey parties were out and building operations begun.

And so it went. There were a thousand maws into which he poured
unceasing streams of money. But it was all so sound and legitimate,
that Daylight, born gambler that he was, and with his clear, wide
vision, could not play softly and safely. It was a big opportunity,
and to him there was only one way to play it, and that was the big way.
Nor did his one confidential adviser, Larry Hegan, aid him to caution.
On the contrary, it was Daylight who was compelled to veto the wilder
visions of that able hasheesh dreamer. Not only did Daylight borrow
heavily from the banks and trust companies, but on several of his
corporations he was compelled to issue stock. He did this grudgingly
however, and retained most of his big enterprises of his own. Among
the companies in which he reluctantly allowed the investing public to
join were the Golden Gate Dock Company, and Recreation Parks Company,
the United Water Company, the Uncial Shipbuilding Company, and the
Sierra and Salvador Power Company. Nevertheless, between himself and
Hegan, he retained the controlling share in each of these enterprises.

His affair with Dede Mason only seemed to languish. While delaying to
grapple with the strange problem it presented, his desire for her
continued to grow. In his gambling simile, his conclusion was that
Luck had dealt him the most remarkable card in the deck, and that for
years he had overlooked it. Love was the card, and it beat them all.
Love was the king card of trumps, the fifth ace, the joker in a game of
tenderfoot poker. It wa