"You fiend!"
"I wished to protect you against any temptation toward ingrat.i.tude,"
explained Joey. "I have been, on the whole, much entertained by your correspondence. There was much chaff--that was to be expected. But there was also some precious grain which I have garnered with care. For instance, I have copies of all Zurich"s letters to you. You have been endeavoring to ruin your cousin, fearing that McClintock might relent and remember Stanley in his will; you have succeeded at last. Whatever new villainy you have to propose, it now should be easier to name it, since you are relieved from the necessity of beating round the bush.--You were saying--?"
"Stanley has found a mine, a copper deposit of fabulous richness; so he writes, and so Zurich a.s.sures me. Zurich has had a sample of it a.s.sayed; he does not know where the deposit is located, but hopes to find it before Stanley or Stanley"s partner can get secure possession. Zurich wants me to put up cash to finance the search and the early development."
"Well? Where do I come in? I am no miner, and I have no cash. I am eating husks."
"You listen. Singularly enough, Stanley has sent his partner up here to make me exactly the same proposition."
"That was Stan"s partner to-day--that old gray goat?"
"Exactly. So, you see, I have two chances."
"I need not ask you," said Joey with a sage nod, "whether you intend to throw in your lot with the thieves or with the honest men. You will flock with the thieves."
"I will," said Mitch.e.l.l grimly. "My cousin had quite supplanted me with my so-called Uncle McClintock. The old dotard would have left him every cent, except for that calf-love affair of Stan"s with the Selden girl.
Some reflections on the girl"s character had come to McClintock"s ears."
"Mitch.e.l.l," said Joey, "before G.o.d, you make me sick!"
"What"s the matter with you now, fool?" demanded Mitch.e.l.l. "I never so much as mentioned the girl"s name in McClintock"s hearing."
"Trust you!" said the clerk. "You"re a slimy toad, you are. You"re nauseatin". Pah! Ptth!"
"McClintock repeated these rumors to Stan," said the lawyer gloatingly.
"Stan called him a liar. My uncle never liked me. It is very doubtful if he leaves me more than a moderate bequest, even now. But I have at least made sure that he leaves nothing to Stan. And now I shall strip his mine from him and leave him to rot in the penitentiary. For I always hated him, quite aside from any thought of my uncle"s estate. I hate him for what he is. I always wanted to trample his girl-face in the mire."
"Leave your chicken-curses and come to the point," urged the junior member of the firm impatiently. "It is no news to me that your brain is diseased and your heart rotten. What is it you want me to do? Calm yourself, you white-livered maniac. I gather that I am in some way to meddle with this mine. If I but had your head for my very own along with the sand in my craw, I"d tell you to go to h.e.l.l. Having only brains enough to know what I am, I"m cursed by having to depend upon you. Name your corpse! Come through!"
"You shut your foul mouth and listen. You throw me off."
"Give me a cigar, then. Thanks. I await your pleasure."
"Zurich warned me that Stanley"s partner, this old man Johnson, had gone East and would in all probability come here to bring proposals from Stan.
He came yesterday, bearing a letter of introduction from Stan. The fear that I would not close with his proposition had the poor old gentleman on needles and pins. But I fell in with his offer. I won his confidence and within the hour he had turned himself wrong side out. He made me a map, which shows me how to find the mine. He thinks I am to go to Arizona with him in a week--poor idiot! Instead, you are to get him into jail at once."
"How?"
"The simplest and most direct way possible. You have that Poole tribe under your thumb, have you not?"
"Bootlegging, chicken-stealing, sneak-thieving, arson, and perjury. And they are ripe for any deviltry, without compulsion. All I need to do is to show them a piece of money and give instructions."
"Get the two biggest ones, then--Amos and Seth. Have them pick a fight with the man Johnson and swear him into jail. They needn"t hurt him much and they needn"t bother about provocation. All they need to do is to contrive to get him in some quiet spot, beat him up decently, and swear that Johnson started the row without warning; that they never saw him before, and that they think he was drunk. Manage so that Johnson sees the inside of the jail by to-morrow at luncheon-time, or just after, at worst; then you and I will take the afternoon train for Arizona--with my map. I have just returned from informing my beloved uncle of Stanley"s ignominious situation, and I told him I could go to the rescue at once, for the sake of the family honor. I thought the old fool would throw a fit, he was so enraged. So, good-bye to Nephew Stanley!"
"Look here, Mr. Oscar; that"s no good, you know," remonstrated Pelman.
"What"s the good of throwing Johnson into jail for five or ten days--or perhaps only a fine? He may even have letters from Stan to some one else in Vesper, some one influential; he may beat the case. He"ll be out there in no time, making you trouble. That old goat looks as if he might b.u.t.t."
Mitch.e.l.l smiled.
"That"s only half my plan. The jailer is also one of your handy men. I"ll furnish you plenty of money for the Pooles and for the jailer--enough to make it well worth their while. Contrive a faked rescue of Johnson. The jailer can be found trussed up and gagged, to-morrow about midnight. Best have only one of the Pooles in it; take Amos. He shall wear a mask and be the bold rescuer; he shall open the cell door, whisper "Mitch.e.l.l" to Johnson, and help him escape. Once out, without taking off his mask, Amos can hide Johnson somewhere. I leave you to perfect these details. Then, after discarding his mask, Poole can give the alarm. It is immaterial whether he rouses the undersheriff or finds a policeman; but he is to give information that he has just seen Johnson at liberty, skulking near such-and-such a place. Such information, from a man so recently the victim of a wanton a.s.sault at Johnson"s hands, will seem a natural act."
"Mr. Mitch.e.l.l, you"re a wonder!" declared Joey in a fine heat of admiration. As the lawyer unfolded his plan the partner-clerk, as a devotee of cunning, found himself convicted of comparative unworth; with every sentence he deported himself less like Pelman the partner, shrank more and more to Joey the devil clerk. "The first part of your programme sounded like amateur stuff; but the second number is a scream. Any mistreated guy would fall for that. I would, myself. He"ll be up against it for jail-breaking, conspiracy, a.s.saulting an officer, using deadly weapons--and the best is, he will actually be guilty and have no kick coming! Look what a head that is of yours! Even if he should escape rearrest here, it will be a case for extradition. If he goes back to Arizona, he will be nabbed; our worthy sheriff will be furious at the insult to his authority and will make every effort to gather Mr. Johnson in. Either way you have Johnson off your shoulders."
"Stanley is off my shoulders, too, and good for a nice long term. And I have full directions for reaching Stanley"s mine. You and I, in that wild Arizona country, would not know our little way about; we will be wholly dependent upon Zurich; and, therefore, we must share our map with him.
But, on the whole, I think I have managed rather well than otherwise.
It may be, after this bonanza is safely in our hands, that we may be able to discover some ultimate wizardry of finance which shall deal with Zurich"s case. We shall see."
CHAPTER XIII
Mr. Francis Charles Boland, propped up on one elbow, sprawled upon a rug spread upon the gra.s.s under a giant willow tree at Mitch.e.l.l House, deep in the Chronicles of Sir John Froissart. Mr. Ferdinand Sedgwick tip-toed unheard across the velvet sward. He prodded Frances Charles with his toe.
"Ouch!" said Francis Charles.
"You"ll catch your death of cold. Get up! Your company is desired."
"Go "way!"
"Miss Dexter wants you."
"Don"t, either. She was coiled in the hammock ten minutes ago. Wearing a criminal neglige. Picturesque, but not posing. She slept; I heard her snore."
"She"s awake now and wants you to make a fourth at bridge; you two against Elsie and me."
"Botheration! Tell her you couldn"t find me."
"I would hush the voice of conscience and do your bidding gladly, old thing, if it lay within the sphere of practical politics. But, unfortunately, she saw you."
"Tell her to go to the devil!"
Ferdie considered this proposition and rejected it with regret.
"She wouldn"t do it. But you go on with your reading. I"ll tell her you"re disgruntled. She"ll understand. This will make the fourth day that you haven"t taken your accustomed stroll by the schoolhouse. We"re all interested, Frankie."
"You banshee!" Francis withdrew the finger that had been keeping his place in the book. "I suppose I"ll have to go back with you." He sat up, rather red as to his face.
"I bet she turned you down hard, old boy," murmured Mr. Sedgwick sympathetically. "My own life has been very sad. It has been blighted forever, several times. Is she pretty? I haven"t seen her, myself, and the reports of the men-folks and the young ladies don"t tally. Funny thing, but scientific observation shows that when a girl says another girl is fine-looking--Hully Gee! And _vice versa_. Eh? What say?"
"Didn"t say anything. You probably overheard me thinking. If so, I beg your pardon."
"I saw a fine old Western gentleman drive by here with old man Selden yesterday--looked like a Westerner, anyhow; big sombrero, leather face, and all that. I hope," said Ferdie anxiously, "that it was not this venerable gentleman who put you on the blink. He was a fine old relic; but he looked rather patriarchal for the role of Lochinvar. Unless, of course, he has the money."
"Yes, he"s a Western man, all right. I met them on the Vesper Bridge,"
replied Boland absently, ignoring the banter. He got to his feet and spoke with dreamy animation. "Ferdie, that chap made me feel homesick with just one look at him. Best time I ever had was with that sort.