"How do I know you can give me good t.i.tle?"
"Ain"t I tellin" you so?"
"Yes, but why should I believe you?"
"You shouldn"t, unless you"ve got sense enough to see that we ain"t gettin" you "way up here, an" we ain"t living round these parts a couple of years on a busted proposition."
The stranger evidently debated this.
"How would it be if you took equal shares with me on the claims, your shares to be paid from the earnings? That would be fair all round. You would get nothing unless the t.i.tle was good. I would risk no more than you did," he suggested.
"Isn"t I tellin" yo" I don"t appear a tall in this yere transaction?"
objected Mizzou.
The stranger laughed a little.
"I can see through a millstone," he said. "Why don"t you old turtlebacks come out of your sh.e.l.ls and play square? You"ve got some shady game on here that you"re working underhand. Spin your yarn and I"ll tell you what I think of it."
"How do I know you don"t leave us out a"ter we tells you," objected Mizzou, returning to his original idea.
"You don"t!" answered the stranger impatiently, "you don"t! But it seems to me if you expect to get anything out of a shady transaction, you"ve got to risk something."
"That"s right," put in Arthur, "that"s right! "Nuff said! Now, Slayton, we"ll agree to git you full legal control of these yere claims if you"ll develop them at your expense, an" gin Davidson and me a third interest between us fer our influence. That"s our proposition, an" that goes. If you don"t play squar", I knows how t" make ye."
"Spin your yarn," repeated the stranger quietly. "I"ll agree to give you and Davidson a third interest, _provided_ I take hold of the thing at all."
"An" Jack Slayton," put in Mizzou threateningly, "if you don"t play us squar", I swar I"ll shoot ye like a dog!"
"Oh, stow that, Davidson," rejoined the stranger in an irritated voice; "that rot don"t do any good. I know you, and you know me. I never went back on a game yet, and you know it."
"I does know it, Jack!" came up Davidson"s voice repentantly, "but this is a big deal, an" y" can"t be too careful!"
"All right, all right," the stranger responded "Now tell us your scheme. How can you get hold of the property?"
"By jumping the claims," replied Arthur calmly. There ensued a short pause. Then:
"Don"t be a fool," exclaimed Slayton with contempt; "this is no hold-up country. You can"t drive a man off his property with a gun."
"I knows that. These claims can be "jumped" quiet and legal."
"How?"
"They ain"t be"n a stroke of a.s.sessment work done on "em since we came.
Th" Company"s t.i.tle"s gone long ago. They lost their job last January.
Them claims is open to any one who cares to have "em."
The stranger uttered a long whistle. Old Mizzou chuckled cunningly. "I has charge of them claims from th" time they quits work on "em "till now. They ain"t be"n a pick raised on "em. Anybody could a-jumped "em any time since las" January."
"But how about the Company?" asked Slayton. "How did you fool them?"
"Oh, I sends "em bills fer work reg"lar enough! And I didn"t throw away th" money neither!"
"Yes, that"d be easy enough. But how about the people around here? Why haven"t they jumped the claims long ago?"
"Wall, I argues about this a-way. These yere gents sees I has charge, an" they says to themselves, "Ole Davidson takes care of them a.s.sessment works all right," an" so they never thinks it"s worth while t" see whether it is done or not."
"You trusted to their thinking you were performing your duties?"
"Thet"s it."
"Well, it was a pretty big risk!"
"Ev"rything t" gain an" nothin" t" lose," quoted Old Mizzou comfortably.
"How about this new man the Company has out here--de Laney? Is he in this deal too?"
"Oh, him!" said Davidson with vast contempt. "He don" know enough t"
dodge a brick! I tells him th" a.s.sessment work is all done. He believes it, an" never looks t" see. I gets him fooled so easy it"s sh.o.r.e funny."
"Hold on!" put in Slayton sharply. "I"m not so sure you aren"t liable there somewhere. Of course your failure to do the a.s.sessment work while you were alone here was negligence, but that is all. The Company could fire you for failing to do your duty, but they couldn"t prove any fraud against you. But when this de Laney came along it changed things."
"How is that?"
"Well, you told him the a.s.sessment work had been done, in so many words, didn"t you? The Company can prove that you were using your official information to deceive him for the purposes of fraud. In other words, you were an officer of the Company, and you deceived another officer in your official capacity. I don"t know but you"d be liable to a criminal action."
"Not on your tin-type," said Old Mizzou with confidence.
"Have you looked it up?"
"I does better than that. At that point I sh.o.r.e becomes subtle. _I resigns from th" Company!_ A"ter that I talks a.s.sessment work. I tells him advice, jest as a friend. If he believes th" same, an" it ain"t so, why thet"s unfort"nit, but they can"t do anythin" t" me. I"m jest an outsider. He is responsible to th" Company, an" if he wants information, he ought to go to th" books, and not to frien"s who may deceive him."
"Davidson, you"re a genius!" exclaimed the stranger heartily.
"I tells you I becomes subtle," acknowledged the old man with just pride. "But now you sees it ain"t delikit that my name appears in th"
case a tall. Folks is so suspicious these yere days, that if I has a share, and Arthur yere has a share, they says p"rhaps we has this yere scheme in view right along. But if Slayton gets them lapsed claims by hisself, Slayton bein" a stranger, they thinks how fortinit that Slayton is t" git onto it, and they puts pore Ole Mizzou down as becomin" fergitful in his old age."
The stranger laughed.
"It"s easy," he remarked. "We get them for nothing, and you can bet your sweet life I"ll push "em through for all there is in it. Why, boys, you"re rich! You won"t have anything more to do the rest of your mortal days, unless you want to."
"I ain"t seekin" no manual employment," observed Mizzou.
"I"m willin" to quit work," agreed Arthur.
"Well, you"ll have a chance. Now we better hustle this thing through lively. We"ve got to make our discoveries on the quiet so no one will get on to us."
"It ain"t goin" t" take us long t" tack up them notices, now "t we"ve agreed. We kin do th" most on it this evenin". Jest lay low, that"s all."