“Didn’t he know you might turn up here?”
“Probably not. At the time we were together I was planning to go to New Mexico. He, no doubt, thinks I am there at this moment.”
“He’ll be surprised to see you.”
“No doubt. But such a thorough rascal as he has proved himself to be is better in jail than out of it.”
I soon had supper prepared, and my uncle sat down and ate heartily. I could not touch a mouthful. The rapid turning of affairs had completely unsettled me.
“We must have a talk with Nort to-morrow, and find out all the particulars of your father’s death,” went on my real uncle. “I am not at all satisfied with the story he has told to you. If I remember rightly your father was a very careful man.”
He stopped suddenly, and then changed the subject, asking me how I got along at the mill, and if business was good.
“I came partly to offer your father an interest in a ranch I am on the point of buying in New Mexico,” he said, when I had related how matters stood. “I know the Bend is a dull place, and I have got an opening where I think you would do very well.”
“I would be glad to leave the Bend,” I replied. “I think I could do better in some new and lively place.”
My uncle gave a laugh.