"Not much, to be sure," returned the boy, half sadly, "only what mother has told me about him; but I'd like to know more. I think he must have been a very interesting old character, wasn't he?"
"An old devil and a cut-throat," retorted Mr. Williams. "You couldn't count on him to be square even to his own mother. A sly old fox always on the hunt."
"That's very strange," replied Willis. "He surely was not that sort of a man or my father never would have chosen him for a partner. You surely must be mistaken." "Your father didn't have enough dealings with him to find him out; that was all. I know him."
"Tell me about some of the awful deeds he has committed if he is such a fox," questioned Willis. "I've always thought him absolutely square. I've heard he was the finest man in these mountains, years ago."
"Who told you any such rot? I have enough circumstantial evidence against him to put him behind the bars right now," growled the uncle.
"Evidence along what lines, Uncle?" persisted Willis.
"Blackmail!" snorted Williams. "What difference does it make to you, anyway? He would be a capital fellow to join in on such an absurdly foolish scheme as you are just about to pull off at the Y.M.C.A. now. Going into somebody else's property and absorbing its benefits to yourselves. That's his scheme exactly. He watches my mining claims like a hawk, and if my assessments should be a day late he'd jump my claims. He hates me."
"What did you ever do to make him hate you?" innocently inquired Willis.
Again Mr. Williams ignored the question and went on: "He'd just love to work on that old cabin again."
"I should think that cabin would interest him," calmly replied Willis. "I only wish he was here to join us, for I'd rather know him than any man I can think of just now. A man who builds a house ought to know how best to build onto it, hadn't he? Personally, I think he must have been a very clever old miner and as true as steel."