“Not so bad as that. I’m not going to put them clean out of business. They’ll still be rich compared to what they were before. Those people are bound to get skinned. They’re begging for it. If I don’t get it, somebody else will.”
“Still, when I make friends with folks I hate to rob them,” said Lockwood cautiously.
“Maybe, but it’s the way of the world,” Hanna returned. “I happened on them by chance. Say, you’ve no idea of the state I found them in. Money was burning holes in their pockets, and they hadn’t the faintest notion how to spend it. I expect you’ve seen through my game. You know they paid about double for everything they bought. The orders all went through me. But still, Lord! I did let them have something. Most men would have turned them inside out.”
“Well, that’s what you’re planning to do now.”
“I don’t know,” Hanna replied thoughtfully. “Sometimes I’ve thought of settling down and spending the rest of my life on that plantation. Why not? But, anyhow. I’m the dog in the manger—see? You’ve got to keep out, and I’m prepared to bonus you for it.”
“Suppose I reported all this talk to our friends?”
“They wouldn’t believe you, son,” said the bandit with assurance. “I won’t deny that you might make me some little trouble, if you came back with a fishy tale about my oil well. I might have to take Tom down the coast and show him some oil derricks. There’s heaps of ’em near Mobile. But you might bother me some, and so I say, what’s your figure? I’ll make it five thousand.”
“Not enough!” said Lockwood.
“Why, I won’t clear much over twice that!” Hanna complained. “You’re a devil of a hard man to do business with. I’ll go six thousand, and that’s my last raise, by gad! It’ll be paid you in Chicago, and you’ll have to sign a statement that you’ve investigated my oil well and found it all right, and that you’ve left Alabama for good.”
Lockwood shook his head stolidly.