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.
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