It was all a mystery to the old trapper, who had never seen anything of the kind, and perhaps there would be more difficulty in the way than the hopeful Herbert believed, but it was the best that offered, and since Rickard must, of necessity, be compelled to trust the others to a certain extent, he was not likely to propose other terms.
The matter was made clear, so far as could be done, to Eph, who, to insure he was right, repeated his instructions until they were pronounced correct by the others. Strubell, having some education himself, helped to force the bit of knowledge into his brain.
“S’pose he says he won’t do it for five thousand, but wants six, or seven, or more—what then?” asked Eph.
“Make the best bargain you can; I am willing you should go up to six, seven—yes, ten thousand,” added Herbert, who felt in that moment that there was nothing too much for him to do for the best friend he had in the world.
“Are you crazy?” asked the amazed Strubell. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m in earnest,” was the resolute reply of the youth, who shuddered at the thought that a little haggling at the crisis might bring about the death of Nick Ribsam.
“Well,” said the Texan, “since you talk that way, you can set it down as certain that Bell Rickard will turn Nick over in a hurry.”
“Yas,” added old Eph, “and go into the bus’ness of stealin’ younkers instead of hosses, for it will pay him much bigger.”
“But there’s one thing you can work in,” remarked Lattin, “that is, that he won’t have any trouble in gettin’ any sum up to five thousand, but when you go above that, there’s sure to be difficulty and he may lose the whole thing.”
All agreed that this was a clever idea which would have weight with the horse thief. The trapper promised to make the best use of it.