Harran gave him the news of the past week, Dyke's discharge, his resolve to raise a crop of hops; Vanamee's return, the killing of the sheep, and Hooven's petition to remain upon the ranch as Magnus's tenant.

It needed only Harran's recommendation that the German should remain to have Magnus consent upon the instant.

"You know more about it than I, boy," he said, "and whatever you think is wise shall be done." Harran touched the bays with the whip, urging them to their briskest pace.

They were not yet at Annixter's and he was anxious to get back to the ranch house to supervise the blue-stoning of his seed.
"By the way, Governor," he demanded suddenly, "how is Lyman getting on ?" Lyman, Magnus's eldest son, had never taken kindly toward ranch life.

He resembled his mother more than he did Magnus, and had inherited from her a distaste for agriculture and a tendency toward a profession.