“It’s darn pretty country up there at
Glen Ellen,” he said meditatively. “I
wish you could see it.”
At the edge of the grove he suggested that it might
be better for them to part there.
“It’s your neighborhood, and folks is
liable to talk.”
But she insisted that he accompany her as far as the
house.
“I can’t ask you in,” she said,
extending her hand at the foot of the steps.
The wind was humming wildly in sharply recurrent gusts,
but still the rain held off.
“Do you know,” he said, “taking
it by and large, it’s the happiest day of my
life.” He took off his hat, and the wind
rippled and twisted his black hair as he went on solemnly,
“And I’m sure grateful to God, or whoever
or whatever is responsible for your being on this
earth. For you do like me heaps. It’s
been my joy to hear you say so to-day. It’s—”
He left the thought arrested, and his face assumed
the familiar whimsical expression as he murmured:
“Dede, Dede, we’ve just got to get married.
It’s the only way, and trust to luck for it’s
coming out all right—“.
But the tears were threatening to rise in her eyes
again, as she shook her head and turned and went up
the steps.
When the ferry system began to run, and the time between
Oakland and San Francisco was demonstrated to be cut
in half, the tide of Daylight’s terrific expenditure
started to turn. Not that it really did turn,
for he promptly went into further investments.
Thousands of lots in his residence tracts were sold,
and thousands of homes were being built. Factory
sites also were selling, and business properties in
the heart of Oakland. All this tended to a steady
appreciation in value of Daylight’s huge holdings.
But, as of old, he had his hunch and was riding it.
Already he had begun borrowing from the banks.
The magnificent profits he made on the land he sold
were turned into more land, into more development;
and instead of paying off old loans, he contracted
new ones. As he had pyramided in Dawson City,
he now pyramided in Oakland; but he did it with the
knowledge that it was a stable enterprise rather than
a risky placer-mining boom.
In a small way, other men were following his lead,
buying and selling land and profiting by the improvement
work he was doing. But this was to be expected,
and the small fortunes they were making at his expense
did not irritate him. There was an exception,
however. One Simon Dolliver, with money to go
in with, and with cunning and courage to back it up,
bade fair to become a several times millionaire at
Daylight’s expense. Dolliver, too, pyramided,
playing quickly and accurately, and keeping his money
turning over and over. More than once Daylight
found him in the way, as he himself had got in the
way of the Guggenhammers when they first set their
eyes on Ophir Creek.
