Here I come chasin' all this way to
be decent to you, to see if there ain't some way to help you out----"
"Help me out of my property," amended Steve. "I can't remember
anything else you offered to do for me!"
"I said it once," shouted his grandfather, his two big fists suddenly
clinched and lifted threateningly; "you're a howlin' young ass! That's
what for a man you've turned out to be, Stephen Packard. Come here
empty-handed an' try to buck me, would you? Me who has busted better
men than you all my life, me who has got my hooks in you deep already,
me who ain't no pulin' ol' dodderin' softy to turn over to a lazy,
shiftless vagabond all I've piled up year after year. Buck me, would
you? Tuck in an' fire my men, butt on my affairs-- Why, you impudent
young puppy-dog, you: I'll make you stick your tail between your legs
an' howl like a kiote before I'm done with you!"
Steve looked at him hopelessly; he might have expected this all along
though he had hoped for amity at least. If there were to be a conflict
of purpose he could have wished that it be conducted in friendly
fashion. But when did Hell-Fire Packard ever clasp hands with the man
he opposed in anything, when did he ever see a business rival without
cloven hoof, horns, and spiked tail?
"I am sorry you look at it that way, Grandy. It is only natural that I
should seek to hold what is mine.
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