“Scared? Who was scared?” fleered James Blaine Hawkins. “Not me, anyway. I seen right away there was some kind of frame-up agin me here and I didn’t want no trouble. Any fool can go head down into trouble, but a man uh brains’ll side-step till he knows what he’s up against.”
“Well,” smiled Gary, “do you know what you’re up against?”
“Sure, I know! For some reason, somebody don’t want me here. They tried to scare me last night—but I seen through that right off.”
“Yes, you saw more than I did,” Gary told him quietly.
“Well, and what’s all this you know?” Hawkins’ voice was rising angrily. “I’m here to stay. I want to know what’s back of all this.”
Gary took an exasperating time to reply. “If you find out, you’ll do more than Waddell did,” he said at last. His face was sober, his tone convincing. “I’ve a little matter of my own to discuss with you, but that has nothing whatever to do with last night. Last night you claimed to see a man—and there wasn’t any man. You know darned well there wasn’t, or you wouldn’t have been so scared. That’s something I have nothing to do with. I didn’t see any one in the cabin—but you.” He smoked for another minute. “You also claimed you saw a cat.” He looked at James Blaine Hawkins steadily.
“I claimed to and I did! There’s a frame-up of some kind. You said yourself——”
“I said Waddell thought he saw things here. That’s the plain truth, Hawkins. It worried Waddell so he nearly went crazy, from all accounts. You needn’t take my word for that. You can ask the Indians, or Monty Girard—any one who knows this place.”
He stopped and drew some legal papers from his pocket. “Here’s something I meant to show you last night—if you had stayed,” he said. “I’m not in the habit of babbling my business to every chance stranger. I didn’t tell you, because I wanted to make sure that it concerned you. But it happens that I have a prior right here. That’s what brought me over here in the first place. It’s true I wanted to see Waddell, and he was gone when I arrived. But I knew all about the sale, Mr. Hawkins. I know Miss Connolly very well. She begged me to undertake the complete management of Johnnywater ranch, and to that end she signed this Power of Attorney. You will see, Mr. Hawkins, that it has been duly certified and that the date is much earlier than your first knowledge of the place. Miss Connolly also gave me the deed and this certificate of the water rights. Everything is perfectly legal and straight, and I’m sorry to say—No, by heck, I’m not sorry! It’s a relief to me to know that your contract isn’t worth a lead nickel. In order to get this place on shares, you would need to make an agreement with me. And you would not get the terms Miss Connolly was so generous as to give you. One half the increase in stock, any loss in the old stock during the term of contract to be made good when you turned the place back to its owner, are the usual terms. Your expenses would not be paid for you.
“However, that is beside the point. I am not in favor of letting the place go on shares—not at present, anyway. So this is what you did not wait last night to hear.”