"He refused to sell the place to me for ten thousand dollars cash," the father stated. "He's no fool--and he's a bad customer, Charlie; he said he would send me to prison for perjury if I tried to cancel the right." "Perjury, pouf!" Charlie sneered. "He couldn't send me to prison, of course, for I have too much money, but he might make it unpleasant for me, very unpleasant. Politics are to be considered; I mustn't get a bad name in the party and in the state. I must be careful. The records show that the ranch has had the water, and while in my possession. As he says, that would be difficult for me to explain if I entered court against him. The matter mustn't get into court or into the land office. Later we can have the water right cancelled and reappropriated--later, when he has gone away, when no dust can be raised about it." "Is he going away?" "Don't be stupid, Charlie. He must go away; that is necessary: I'm considering plans. He must be pursuaded--or----" "Or forced," said his son, with reckless bright eyes. "Men generally depart from a locality when public opinion is brought to bear on them," the elder remarked. "He can be made unpopular until he desires to leave." "We'll run him out, just leave that part to me." "Charlie, nothing rash must be done, remember that, and nothing illegal. I shall think of some plan soon." "Nothing rash, but nothing uncertain, father. Two hundred thousand is a lot of money. I, too, shall plan." The prospect of ousting an intruder who had challenged his family's right to control what it wished here, who indeed had the audacity to attempt to robe the effort under a claim of legality, appealed to young Menocal as an undertaking most attractive. The fact that all the advantage was on his side, of influence, of wealth, of race, of power that might be exerted through ignorant Mexicans in a hundred subtle and vindictive ways, made the enterprise all the more alluring. The Indian strain in his blood--a strain which accounts for much that sets American and Mexican apart, unconsciously in his case gave a tinge of cruelty to his anticipation. Aspiring himself to pass as an American, it never failed to please him when he could slight or humiliate an American; and he lacked his father's restraint of impulses, as he came short of his sagacity and perseverance. Indeed, secretly the son believed his father too conservative, too cautious, too old-fashioned and slow; and at times was exceedingly impatient with methods that he was confident he could immensely improve. His father considered him for a time. "Charlie, you leave this matter alone," he said. "You keep out of it. Whatever's to be done, I'll do. You would go too far. You can give your attention to seeing that the crops are watered and the hay cut on time; you should be down at Rosita now looking after things."