The Forfeit

The Forfeit by Ridgwell Cullum is about two ranch owner friends, one older and one younger, who must act fast to buy a rich man's house, barns, and total livestock. Excerpt: «A companionable silence prevailed in the room. At intervals, it was broken, but only by the rustle of paper or the striking of a match. The heavy breathing, almost amounting to a snore, of one of the two men, and the inarticulate protests of a laboring „rocker“ chair—these things were only a part of it. The man at the table was deeply immersed in a miniature sea of calculations.»