About an inch and a half."
"Not heavy, though? Kind of lean an' long, like Phil Packard before
you?"
Packard nodded; then, with Royce's sightless eyes upon him, he said
hastily:
"Right again, Bill; kind of lean and long. You'd know me."
"Sure, I would!" cried Royce eagerly. "A man don't change so all-fired
much in a dozen years; don't I remember just how you looked when you
cut loose to see the world! Ain't made your pile, have you, Steve?"
Packard laughed carelessly.
"I'm lord and master of a good horse, saddle, bridle, and seventy-odd
bucks," he said lightly. "Not much of a pile, Bill."
"An' Number Ten Ranch," added Royce quickly.
"And Number Ten Ranch," Packard agreed. "If we can get away with it."
"Meaning what? How get away with it?"
"It's mortgaged to the hilt, it seems. I don't know for how much yet.
The mortgage and a lot of accrued interest has to be paid off. Just
how big a job we've got to find out."
"Seen your grandfather yet?"
"No. I should have looked him up, I suppose, before I fired Blenham.
But, being made of flesh and blood----"
"I know, I know." And Royce filled his lungs with a big sigh. "Bein'
a Packard, you didn't wait all year to get where you was goin'. But
there'll be plenty of red tape that can't be cut through; that'll have
to be all untangled an' untied. Unless your grandfather'll do the
right thing by you an' call all ol' bets off an' give you a free hand
an' a fresh start?"
"All of which you rather doubt, eh, Bill?"
Royce nodded gloomily.
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