day before yesterday, driving out of the Overlook grounds as you were
going in."

Ford shook his head.

"No; it goes back of that; sometime I'll remember how and where. But to
answer your question: I know Mr. Colbrith slightly, but I've never met
any of the directors."

"Well, you are meeting one at this moment," laughed the young man,
crossing his legs comfortably. "But I am the easiest mark of the lot,"
he added. "I inherited my holdings in Pacific Southwestern."

Ford was crucially anxious to find out how the battle was likely to go,
and his companion seemed amiably communicative.

"Since you call Mr. Colbrith 'Uncle Sidney,' I infer that you know what
I am here for, Mr. Adair. How do you think my proposition is likely to
strike the board?"

Again the young man laughed.

"Fancy your asking me!" he said. "I haven't talked with any one but
Uncle Sidney; and the most I could get out of him was that you wanted
thirty-five million dollars to spend."

"Well," said the Westerner anxiously, "am I going to get it?"

"You can search me," was the good-natured rejoinder. "But from my
knowledge of the men you are going presently to wrestle with, I should