“Naturally!” Bryce replied.  “The average human being is a hog, and merciless when he has the upper hand.  He figures that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.  My father, on the contrary, has always planned for the future.  He didn’t want that railroad blocked by land-speculators and its building delayed.  The country needed rail connection with the outside world, and moreover his San Hedrin timber isn’t worth a hoot until that feeder to a transcontinental road shall be built to tap it.”

“But he sold Bill Henderson the mill-site on tidewater that he refused to sell me, and later I had to pay Henderson’s heirs a whooping price for it.  And I haven’t half the land I need.”

“But he needed Henderson then.  They had a deal on together.  You must remember, Colonel, that while Bill Henderson held that Squaw Creek timber he later sold you, my father would never sell him a mill-site.  Can’t you see the sporting point of view involved?  My father and Bill Henderson were good-natured rivals; for thirty years they had tried to outgame each other on that Squaw Creek timber.  Henderson thought he could force my father to buy at a certain price, and my father thought he could force Henderson to sell at a lesser price; they were perfectly frank about it with each other and held no grudges.  Of course, after you bought Henderson out, you foolishly took over his job of trying to outgame my father.  That’s why you bought Henderson out, isn’t it?  You had a vision of my father’s paying you a nice profit on your investment, but he fooled you, and now you’re peeved and won’t play.”

Bryce hitched his chair farther toward the Colonel.  “Why shouldn’t my dad be nice to Bill Henderson after the feud ended?” he continued.  “They could play the game together then, and they did.  Colonel, why can’t you be as sporty as Henderson and my father?  They fought each other, but they fought fairly and in the open, and they never lost the respect and liking each had for the other.”

“I will not renew your logging contract.  That is final, young man.  No man can ride me with spurs and get away with it.”

“Oh, I knew that yesterday.”

“Then why have you called on me to-day, taking up my time on a dead issue?”

“I wanted to give you one final chance to repent.  I know your plan.  You have it in your power to smash the Cardigan Redwood Lumber Company, acquire it at fifty per cent. of its value, and merge its assets with your Laguna Grande Lumber Company.  You are an ambitious man.  You want to be the greatest redwood manufacturer in California, and in order to achieve your ambitions, you are willing to ruin a competitor:  you decline to play the game like a thoroughbred.”

“I play the game of business according to the rules of the game; I do nothing illegal, sir.”

“And nothing generous or chivalrous.  Colonel, you know your plea of a shortage of rolling-stock is that the contract for hauling our logs has been very profitable and will be more profitable in the future if you will accept a fifty-cent-per-thousand increase on the freight-rate and renew the contract for ten years.”