had been the principal
cow-town of the foothill country. In defiance of all tradition, and,
most of all, in defiance of the predictions of the ranchers who had
known it so long for a cow-town and nothing more, the place began to
grow. No one troubled to inquire exactly why it should grow, or how. As
for Transley, it was enough for him that team labor was in demand. He
took a contract, and three days after the fire in the foothills he was
excavating for business blocks about to be built in the new metropolis.

It was no part of Transley's plan, however, to quite lose touch with
the people on the Y.D. They were, in fact, the centre about which he had
been doing some very serious thinking. His outspokenness with Zen and
her father had had in it a good deal of bravado--the bravado of a man
who could afford to lose the stake, and smile over it. In short, he
had not cared whether he offended them or not. Transley was a very
self-reliant contractor; he gave, even to the millionaire rancher,
no more homage than he demanded in return.... Still, Zen was a very
desirable girl. As he turned the matter over in his mind Transley became
convinced that he wanted Zen. With Transley, to want a thing meant to
get it. He always found a way. And he was now quite sure that he wanted
Zen. He had not known that positively until the morning when he
found her in the grey light of dawn with Dennison Grant. There was a
suggestion of companionship there between the two which had cut him to
the quick. Like most ambitious men, Transley was intensely jealous.

Up to this time Transley had not thought seriously of matrimony. A
wife and children he regarded as desirable appendages for declining
years--for the quiet and shade of that evening toward which every active
man looks with such irrational confidence. But for the heat of the
day--for the climb up the hill--they would be unnecessary encumbrances.
Transley always took a practical view of these matters. It need hardly
be stated that he had never been in love; in fact Transley would have
scouted the idea of any passion which would throw the practical to the
winds. That was a thing for weaklings, and, possibly, for women.

But his attachment for Zen was a very practical matter. Zen was the
only heir to the Y.D. wealth. She would bring to her husband capital and
credit which Transley could use to good advantage in his business. She
would also bring personality--a delightful individuality--of which any