had cut in under him. This fidelity to what he considered his business honour was one of the strongest of Boyd's traits; and would probably go far to redeem many other qualities. He was hurt and sore and angry: and the natural combativeness of his nature made him a little vindictive. Nevertheless he grieved much, in his still and secretive fashion. At length two incidents brought about the change.
The first of these was a visit of inspection by William Bates.
In spite of the failure to acquire the Peyton property, the development of the water had gone forward. Boyd had announced briefly to his associates that he had failed to acquire Corona del Monte, and had let it go at that. He in his turn had received no comment, but Bates had called him East, and had gone over with him in detail the projected scheme.
"Go ahead," he decided at last, "and buy in that next piece of property, Las Flores."
"Too far out," said Boyd.
"Too far now," corrected Bates. "By the time we're ready there will be better roads and faster transportation."
Boyd asked him what he meant by the latter, but he was not quite sure: perhaps a trolley line from their power; he had seen a horseless carriage a man named King was playing with in Detroit
He laughed with Boyd at his mentioning the latter; but he stuck to his main point, and Las Flores was bought in cheap from the bank. And concrete roads and the automobile in the long run justified his imaginative instinct.
But that was in the future. At the time of his visit the system was but just finished. He looked it all over without comment. Their way led them past the beginnings of new farms on Corona del Monte. Bates suddenly cackled.
"Pretty shrewd boy, that of yours," he observed. "Put one over on you, didn't he! Oh, I know all about it. Did you think I was greenhorn enough not to have found out all about that transaction? At first I thought you were double-crossing me. He certainly caught you napping! He's got to have our water; but on the other hand we've got to sell it to him—he's our first and obvious market. Also he's our biggest ad. If his
