lf, huh? Why, I tell you
it's as good as mine right now! How are you goin' to pay your men, how
are you goin' to buy grub for 'em, where are you goin' to find
runnin'-expense money? Go an' tell folks you're mortgaged to me for
fifty thousan' dollars an' see how much they'll stake you for on top of
that. Or come over my way an' try to borrow some more, if you think
I'm an easy guy. Why, Steve Packard, you--you're a tomfool!"

"Thanks," said Steve dryly. "I've heard that before."

"An' you'll hear it again, by the Lord! In ten languages if you'll
find men talkin' that many lingos. Here I come chasin' all this way to
be decent to you, to see if there ain't some way to help you out----"

"Help me out of my property," amended Steve. "I can't remember
anything else you offered to do for me!"

"I said it once," shouted his grandfather, his two big fists suddenly
clinched and lifted threateningly; "you're a howlin' young ass! That's
what for a man you've turned out to be, Stephen Packard. Come here
empty-handed an' try to buck me, would you? Me who has busted better
men than you all my life, me who has got my hooks in you deep already,
me who ain't no pulin' ol' dodderin' softy to turn over to a lazy,
shiftless vagabond all I've piled up year after year. Buck me, would
you? Tuck in an' fire my men, butt on my affairs-- Why, you impudent
young puppy-dog, you: I'll make you stick your tail between your legs
an' howl like a kiote before I'm done with you!"

Steve looked at him hopelessly; he might have expected this all along
though he had hoped for amity at least. If there were to be a conflict
of purpose he could have wished that it be conducted in friendly
fashion. But when did Hell-Fire Packard ever clasp hands with the man
he opposed in anything, when did he ever see a business rival without
cloven hoof, horns, and spiked tail?

"I am sorry you look at it that way, Grandy. It is only natural that I
should seek to hold what is mine."

"Then hold your tongue, you young fool!" blazed out the old man. "But
don't ask me to hold my hand! I'm goin' after you tooth and big
toe-nail! If Ranch Number Ten ain't mine in all partic'lars before
you're a year older I want to know why!"

"I think," said the grandson, fighting with himself for calmness and
quiet speech, "that any further business I can take up with your
lawyer. Past due interest----"

"Lawyer?" thundered Packard senior. "Since when did I ever