“But this means open fight,” said the boy. He was looking down at the note.
“And it ’s what I want,” said Simeon quickly. “They’ve had their spies on me long enough. Let ’em come out and fight for what they get.”
The boy was still looking at the paper, a question in his eyes. “You don’t think they will connect with the Bridgewater terminus?” he said.
Simeon’s eyes were on him shrewdly. “I think they ’ll try to.”
“And if they—do—?”
“If they do, they ’ll find they can’t—not this year, nor next.”
The boy looked up quickly.
Simeon nodded. “You remember telling me last year that the Bardwell farm would block their road and that you thought it could be got?”
“I knew they needed money,” said John. “They took a fair price,” said the old man drily.
The boy’s face lighted slowly—“They can’t put through their road!”