So I abandoned them."
"I remember that phase of it, partner."
"To log it the third year only meant that more of those heavy logs
would jam and spell more loss. Besides, there was always danger of
another cloud-burst which would put me out of business completely,
and I couldn't afford the risk."
"That was the time you should have offered Colonel Pennington a
handsome profit on his Squaw Creek timber, pal."
"If my hindsight was as good as my foresight, and I had my eyesight,
I wouldn't be in this dilemma at all," the old man retorted briskly.
"It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, and besides, I was
obsessed with the need of protecting your heritage from attack in any
direction."
John Cardigan straightened up in his chair and laid the tip of his
right index finger in the centre of the palm of his left hand. "Here
was the situation, Bryce: The centre of my palm represents Sequoia;
the end of my fingers represents the San Hedrin timber twenty miles
south. Now, if the railroad built in from the south, you would win.
But if it built in from Grant's Pass, Oregon, on the north from the
base of my hand, the terminus of the line would be Sequoia, twenty
miles from your timber in the San Hedrin watershed!"
Bryce nodded. "In which event," he replied, "we, would be in much the
same position with our San Hedrin timber as Colonel Pennington is
with his Squaw Creek timber.
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