He was old and he was
sentimental, and he loved me and would not sell me out of my
birthright. You had to have that ranch, and since you couldn't buy it
you decided to acquire it by foreclosure. To do that, however, you had
to acquire the mortgage, and in order to acquire the mortgage you had
to acquire a controlling interest in the capital stock of the First
National Bank of El Toro. You didn't seem to fit into the small town
banking business; a bank with a million dollars capital is small change
to you."
"Proceed. You're on the target, son, and something tells me you're
going to score a bull's-eye in a minute."
"When you had acquired the mortgage following such patient steps, my
father checkmated you by making and recording a deed of gift of the
ranch to me, subject of course to the encumbrance. The war-time
moratorium, which protected men in the military or naval service from
civil actions, forced you to sit tight and play a waiting game. Then I
was reported killed in action. My poor father was in a quandary. As
he viewed it, the ranch now belonged to my estate, and I had died
intestate. Probate proceedings dragging over a couple of years were
now necessary, and a large inheritance tax would have been assessed
against the estate. My father broke under the blow and you took
possession. Then I returned--and you know the rest.
"I knew you were powerful enough to block any kind of a banking loan I
might try to secure and I was desperate until Bill Conway managed to
arrange for his financing.
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