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226 For some time after his son had retired Patrick Boyd sat smoking and gazing into the collapsing, glowing coals of the oakwood fire. He was well satisfied, though at the first proposal of this ranching venture he had been very much the contrary. There had seemed to him nothing in it, either of money or of opportunity for a brisk, modern young man to exercise his powers. But the week's investigation had convinced him. The money success of the thing was not certain; that would have to be determined by experiment. But there was no doubt that here was a field in which a young man could use all his intelligence and push. Even if it did not turn out, Kenneth would have acquired the experience necessary to his development; and that, in the final analysis, was all that Boyd wanted for him at first. That was all he had expected from the Western Construction Company. If, on the other hand, the experiment proved a success, Boyd had other plans. As director on the bank board he had access to the financial affairs of the whole county. It was not by-the-way that he had urged the hypothetical "reports" on Colonel Peyton's ranch. Boyd had taken pains, during the past week, to look up the Colonel's situation. He knew to a dollar the latter's troubles: and he had a shrewd guess as to why they had come about. If things went on as they were going, the Colonel must eventually find himself where he must do something. It might be possible to acquire part of the Corona del Monte; or perhaps all of it; or a partnership might be arranged. There was nothing sinister in Patrick Boyd's visioning of future possibilities—as yet. His ruthless, fighting spirit never stirred unless at the push of serious opposition.