"I think he has a great deal more in his head than that. In fact, I do not understand why he should have mentioned young turkeys at all, because he's a cattleman. And he comes from the San Gregorio valley." "Indeed! What's his name?" "He didn't tell me. But he knows all about the ranch you took over from the Gonzales estate." "But I didn't foreclose on that. It was the Farrel estate." "He called it something else--the Palomares rancho, I think." "Gonzales owns the Palomares rancho, but the Palomar rancho belonged to old Don Miguel Farrel." "Was he the father of the boy they call 'Don Mike'--he who was killed in Siberia?"' "The same." "Why did you have to foreclose on his ranch, father?" "Well, the interest had been unpaid for two years, and the old man was getting pretty feeble; so, after the boy was killed, I realized that was the end of the Farrel dynasty and that the mortgage would never be paid. Consequently, in self-protection, I foreclosed. Of course, under the law, Don Miguel had a year's grace in which to redeem the property, and during that year I couldn't take possession without first proving that he was committing waste upon it. However, the old man died of a broken heart a few months after receiving news of his son's death, and, in the protection of my interest, I was forced to petition the court to grant me permission to enter into possession. It was my duty to protect the equity of the heirs, if any." "Are there any heirs?" "None that we have been able to discover." The girl thoughtfully traced a pattern on the tablecloth with the tine of her fork. "How will it be possible for you to acquire that horse, Panchito, for me, dearest?" she queried presently. "I have a deficiency judgment against the Rancho Palomar," he explained. "Consequently, upon the expiration of the redemption period of one year, I shall levy an attachment against the Farrel estate. All the property will be sold at public auction by the sheriff to satisfy my deficiency judgment, and I shall, of course, bid in this horse." "I have decided I do not want him, father," she informed him half sadly. "The ex-soldier is an old boyhood chum of the younger Farrel who was killed, and he wants the horse." He glanced at her with an expression of shrewd suspicion. "As you desire, honey," he replied. "But I want you to see to it that nobody else outbids him for the horse," she continued, earnestly. "If some one should run the price up beyond the limits of his purse, of course I want you to outbid that some one, but what I do not desire you to do is to run the price up on him yourself. He wants the horse out of sentiment, and it isn't nice to force a wounded ex-service-man to pay a high price for his sentiment." "Oh, I understand now," her father assured her. "Very well, little daughter; I have my orders and will obey them."