CHAPTER XXXV
END OF THE CONTRACT AND OF THE STORY
For the moment Dale thought he must be dreaming. This section of the lumber camp his own property! It was too good to be true.
"Mr. Wilbur, do you mean——" he began. "That is, are you sure——"
"Yes, Bradford, the lawyers are certain that this claim belongs to you, since you are your late father's sole heir. Ulmer Balasco does not own a foot of the ground, nor a single stick of timber."
"It is false!" cried Ulmer Balasco, but his voice was weak and uncertain.
"I have said it is true, and before long I will prove it to the satisfaction of everybody," went on Jefferson Wilbur. "Balasco got hold of the claim by a trick, after the mine that was once located along the creek stopped operations. He learned that your father was dead, and thought that he was safe."
"But didn't he know the name was the same?" questioned Owen.
"Bradford's father bought the claim from the Wardell Mining Company, run by a man named Henry Wardell, a schemer who was at one time in business with Foxy Hildan. It is possible that Balasco thought the claim was still in the Wardell family, after Wardell himself died."
"I—I bought the claim from Wardell," said Balasco. "I—I can prove it by Hildan."