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When
Presley
reached
Annixter
’
s
ranch
house
,
he
found
young
Annixter
himself
stretched
in
his
hammock
behind
the
mosquito
-
bar
on
the
front
porch
,
reading
“
David
Copperfield
,
”
and
gorging
himself
with
dried
prunes
.
Annixter
—
after
the
two
had
exchanged
greetings
—
complained
of
terrific
colics
all
the
preceding
night
.
His
stomach
was
out
of
whack
,
but
you
bet
he
knew
how
to
take
care
of
himself
;
the
last
spell
,
he
had
consulted
a
doctor
at
Bonneville
,
a
gibbering
busy
-
face
who
had
filled
him
up
to
the
neck
with
a
dose
of
some
hogwash
stuff
that
had
made
him
worse
—
a
healthy
lot
the
doctors
knew
,
anyhow
.
HIS
case
was
peculiar
.
HE
knew
;
prunes
were
what
he
needed
,
and
by
the
pound
.
Annixter
,
who
worked
the
Quien
Sabe
ranch
—
some
four
thousand
acres
of
rich
clay
and
heavy
loams
—
was
a
very
young
man
,
younger
even
than
Presley
,
like
him
a
college
graduate
.
He
looked
never
a
year
older
than
he
was
.
He
was
smooth
-
shaven
and
lean
built
.
But
his
youthful
appearance
was
offset
by
a
certain
male
cast
of
countenance
,
the
lower
lip
thrust
out
,
the
chin
large
and
deeply
cleft
.
His
university
course
had
hardened
rather
than
polished
him
.
He
still
remained
one
of
the
people
,
rough
almost
to
insolence
,
direct
in
speech
,
intolerant
in
his
opinions
,
relying
upon
absolutely
no
one
but
himself
;
yet
,
with
all
this
,
of
an
astonishing
degree
of
intelligence
,
and
possessed
of
an
executive
ability
little
short
of
positive
genius
.
He
was
a
ferocious
worker
,
allowing
himself
no
pleasures
,
and
exacting
the
same
degree
of
energy
from
all
his
subordinates
.
He
was
widely
hated
,
and
as
widely
trusted
.
Every
one
spoke
of
his
crusty
temper
and
bullying
disposition
,
invariably
qualifying
the
statement
with
a
commendation
of
his
resources
and
capabilities
.
The
devil
of
a
driver
,
a
hard
man
to
get
along
with
,
obstinate
,
contrary
,
cantankerous
;
but
brains
!
No
doubt
of
that
;
brains
to
his
boots
.
One
would
like
to
see
the
man
who
could
get
ahead
of
him
on
a
deal
.
Twice
he
had
been
shot
at
,
once
from
ambush
on
Osterman
’
s
ranch
,
and
once
by
one
of
his
own
men
whom
he
had
kicked
from
the
sacking
platform
of
his
harvester
for
gross
negligence
.
At
college
,
he
had
specialised
on
finance
,
political
economy
,
and
scientific
agriculture
.
After
his
graduation
(
he
stood
almost
at
the
very
top
of
his
class
)
he
had
returned
and
obtained
the
degree
of
civil
engineer
.
Then
suddenly
he
had
taken
a
notion
that
a
practical
knowledge
of
law
was
indispensable
to
a
modern
farmer
.
In
eight
months
he
did
the
work
of
three
years
,
studying
for
his
bar
examinations
.
His
method
of
study
was
characteristic
.
He
reduced
all
the
material
of
his
text
-
books
to
notes
.
Tearing
out
the
leaves
of
these
note
-
books
,
he
pasted
them
upon
the
walls
of
his
room
;
then
,
in
his
shirt
-
sleeves
,
a
cheap
cigar
in
his
teeth
,
his
hands
in
his
pockets
,
he
walked
around
and
around
the
room
,
scowling
fiercely
at
his
notes
,
memorising
,
devouring
,
digesting
.
At
intervals
,
he
drank
great
cupfuls
of
unsweetened
,
black
coffee
.
When
the
bar
examinations
were
held
,
he
was
admitted
at
the
very
head
of
all
the
applicants
,
and
was
complimented
by
the
judge
.
Immediately
afterwards
,
he
collapsed
with
nervous
prostration
;
his
stomach
“
got
out
of
whack
,
”
and
he
all
but
died
in
a
Sacramento
boarding
-
house
,
obstinately
refusing
to
have
anything
to
do
with
doctors
,
whom
he
vituperated
as
a
rabble
of
quacks
,
dosing
himself
with
a
patent
medicine
and
stuffing
himself
almost
to
bursting
with
liver
pills
and
dried
prunes
.
He
had
taken
a
trip
to
Europe
after
this
sickness
to
put
himself
completely
to
rights
.
He
intended
to
be
gone
a
year
,
but
returned
at
the
end
of
six
weeks
,
fulminating
abuse
of
European
cooking
.
Nearly
his
entire
time
had
been
spent
in
Paris
;
but
of
this
sojourn
he
had
brought
back
but
two
souvenirs
,
an
electro
-
plated
bill
-
hook
and
an
empty
bird
cage
which
had
tickled
his
fancy
immensely
.
He
was
wealthy
.
Only
a
year
previous
to
this
his
father
—
a
widower
,
who
had
amassed
a
fortune
in
land
speculation
—
had
died
,
and
Annixter
,
the
only
son
,
had
come
into
the
inheritance
.
For
Presley
,
Annixter
professed
a
great
admiration
,
holding
in
deep
respect
the
man
who
could
rhyme
words
,
deferring
to
him
whenever
there
was
question
of
literature
or
works
of
fiction
.
No
doubt
,
there
was
not
much
use
in
poetry
,
and
as
for
novels
,
to
his
mind
,
there
were
only
Dickens
’
s
works
.
Everything
else
was
a
lot
of
lies
.
But
just
the
same
,
it
took
brains
to
grind
out
a
poem
.
It
wasn
’
t
every
one
who
could
rhyme
“
brave
”
and
“
glaive
,
”
and
make
sense
out
of
it
.
Sure
not
.
But
Presley
’
s
case
was
a
notable
exception
.
On
no
occasion
was
Annixter
prepared
to
accept
another
man
’
s
opinion
without
reserve
.
In
conversation
with
him
,
it
was
almost
impossible
to
make
any
direct
statement
,
however
trivial
,
that
he
would
accept
without
either
modification
or
open
contradiction
.
He
had
a
passion
for
violent
discussion
.
He
would
argue
upon
every
subject
in
the
range
of
human
knowledge
,
from
astronomy
to
the
tariff
,
from
the
doctrine
of
predestination
to
the
height
of
a
horse
.
Never
would
he
admit
himself
to
be
mistaken
;
when
cornered
,
he
would
intrench
himself
behind
the
remark
,
“
Yes
,
that
’
s
all
very
well
.
In
some
ways
,
it
is
,
and
then
,
again
,
in
some
ways
,
it
ISN
’
T
.
”
Singularly
enough
,
he
and
Presley
were
the
best
of
friends
.
More
than
once
,
Presley
marvelled
at
this
state
of
affairs
,
telling
himself
that
he
and
Annixter
had
nothing
in
common
.
In
all
his
circle
of
acquaintances
,
Presley
was
the
one
man
with
whom
Annixter
had
never
quarrelled
.
The
two
men
were
diametrically
opposed
in
temperament
.
Presley
was
easy
-
going
;
Annixter
,
alert
.
Presley
was
a
confirmed
dreamer
,
irresolute
,
inactive
,
with
a
strong
tendency
to
melancholy
;
the
young
farmer
was
a
man
of
affairs
,
decisive
,
combative
,
whose
only
reflection
upon
his
interior
economy
was
a
morbid
concern
in
the
vagaries
of
his
stomach
.
Yet
the
two
never
met
without
a
mutual
pleasure
,
taking
a
genuine
interest
in
each
other
’
s
affairs
,
and
often
putting
themselves
to
great
inconvenience
to
be
of
trifling
service
to
help
one
another
.
