Page:Stewart Edward White--The Rose Dawn.djvu/237

Rh scale. I have seen Colonel Peyton and told him what you may be about. He will see that you have a chance to learn anything you may want to learn. I'll leave that to you. But here is what I propose, while our actual experiment is going"

He paused so long that Kenneth stirred expectantly.

"Suppose, after you are in the run of things, you bring me a weekly report in which you describe how you would run that big ranch. It may be that you would do exactly as Colonel Peyton is doing. If so, state what it is, exactly as though it were your own method. In that way I can judge of how well you are grasping the situation."

"I see."

"If, on the other hand, you would do some things differently, why say so; and how you would do them. It might be well that a young man would see improvements on old methods. Put them down, and we'll discuss them, and see how practicable they are."

"That will be grand fun!" cried Kenneth.

"Of course," warned Boyd, "you must not make any of these suggestions for improvement to Colonel Peyton. He would hardly take them in good part, after doing things his own way for forty years or so!"

"Of course not," agreed Kenneth.

"Then when we have tried it out, and if it works, we'll see about starting you in on a ranch that is worth while."

It was agreed that Kenneth should continue to live with his father. He would have to get up a trifle earlier in the morning; but on the other hand the Bungalow was only a brisk twenty minutes' ride over a beautiful country. Kenneth was delighted with the whole arrangement. His mind, excited by the numberless possibilities of the activities he had dreamed, refused for a long time to let him fall asleep. He reviewed the best course of the new ditch; he determined the height and kind of a rabbit-proof fence; and debated pro and con a gang plough.

Over and over, around and around, his thoughts milled. Yet when at last his wearied spirit stole into the dim borderland of sleep, its eyes saw, not the green fields and blossoming trees of his ambition, but Daphne. He would be near her.