The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1920-04-15
CHAPTER VII.

MI &c .Sdl Is "
see you, sir
every well. Show him ill.,"
Bryce entered, "Good morning,
Colonel" he said pleasantly, and bra
zenly thrust out his hand.
Not for me, my boy" the Colonel
assured him. Il had enough OF that
last night Wen just consider the
Misunderstanding all attended to, if you
please. Have a chair; sit down and
tell me what ] can do to make you
happy"
ii. "I'm delighted to find you in such
a generous frame of mind, Colonel.
You can make me genuinely happy by
renewing, for ten years on the same
terms as the original contract, your
arrangement to freight the logs of the
Cardigan Redwood Lumber company
from the woods to tidewater"
Colonel Pennington cleared his
throat with a propitiatory "Ahem-m-
M" Then he removed his gold spec
tacles and carefully wiped them with
a silk handkerchief, as carefully re-
placed them upon his aristocratic nose,
and then gazed curiously at Bryce.
"My dear young friend! My very
dear young friend. 1 must protest at
being asked to discuss this matter.
Your father and l have been over it in
detail; we failed to agree, and that
settles it,
81 did not expect you to agree to
my request. I am not quite that
optimistic" Bryce replied evenly. q
thought that possibly, if 1 reopened
negotiations you might have a reason
able counter proposition to suggest"
81 haven't thought of any,
81 suppose if l agreed to sell you
that quarter-section of timber in the
little valley over yonder' Che pointed
to the easD land the natural outlet
for your Squaw creek timber, you'd
quickly think of one" Bryce suggested
pointedly.
NO, am not in the market for that
Valley of the Giants, as your idealistic
father prefers to call it. The posses
sion of that big timber is an advan-
tage l expect to enjoy before l ac-
qufre many more gray hairs. But l
do not expect to pay for it."
do you expect me to offer it to
you as a bonus for renewing our haul
ing cOntractT"
The Colonel snapped his fingers.
"By George" he declared, that's
bright idea, and a few months ago I
would have been inclined to consider
1t very seriously. But now"
You figure you've got us winging,
eh?" Bryce was smiling pleasantly.
81 am making no admissions" Penn
ington responded systematically, nor
any hauling contracts for my neigh
boris logs" he added.
81 suppose I'll have to abandon log
ging i'll Township nine and go back to
the San Hedrin," Bryce sighed re
signedy.
"If you do, you'll 60 broke. You
can't afford it. You're on the verge
of insolvency this minute"
81 suppose, since you decline to
haul our logs. after the expiration of
our present contract, and in view of
the fact that we are not financially
able to build our own logging railroad,
that the wisest course my father and
/ could pursue would be to sell our
timber in Township nine to you. 1t
adjOins your holdings in the same
township"
81 had a notion the situation would
begin to dawn upon you" The Colonel
was smiling now; his handsome face
was gradually assuming the express
sion pontifical. I'll give you a dollar
a thousand feet stumpage for it."
I'm afraid l can't accept that offer
We paid dollar and a half for it,
you know, and if we sold it to you at
dollar, the sale would not bring US
sufficient money to take up our bonded
Indebtedness; we'd only have the San
Hedrin timber and the Valley of the
Giants left, and since we cannot log
either of these at present, naturally
we'd be out of business"
THAT'S the way l figured it, my
boy"
"Well-we're not going out of bust
ness"
Pardon me for disagreeing with you.
l think you are"
mot much! We can't afford it."
"My dear boy, my very dear young
friend, listen to me. Your paternal
ancestor is the only human being who
has ever succeeded in making a per-
feet monkey of me. When | wanted
to purchase from him a right of way
through his absurd Valley of the
Giants, in order that l might log my
Squaw creek timber, he refused me.
And to add insult to injury, he
spouted lot of rot about his big
trees. how much they meant to him,
and the utter artistic horror of run
ming a logging-train through the grove
particularly since he planned to be-
queath it to Sequoia as a public park.
Il will not renew your logging con-
tract. That is final, young man. No
man can ride me with spurs and get
away with it."