“Have you really completed your business here?” asked Ned in a moment.
“Yes,” was the reply.
“Satisfactorily?” asked Ned.
“Entirely so! You see,” the lawyer went on, “my theory is always to work along the lines of least resistance. I understand, of course, that we could establish our claim to these lands through the courts. I understand, too, that the Hoola Indians who claim title could be electrocuted for the murder of Toombs. That would clear the atmosphere of many complications.”
“But it wouldn’t be right!” Jimmie shouted.
“No, it wouldn’t be right,” Mr. Bosworth admitted. “The Indians really have some rights here which should be respected, and Toombs received only his just deserts. He never had any standing, even in Wall street. He has betrayed every confidence for years, and there is not a soul on earth who will mourn his death.”
“That’s the way I sized him up!” Ned said.
“And so, taking all things into consideration,” Mr. Bosworth went on, “I have decided to give the Indians a fair price for their land—more than enough to keep them in luxury the remainder of their lives—and to employ them to direct the taking out of the gold.”
“Is there a lot of it?” asked Jack.
“It seems,” Mr. Bosworth replied, “that the eight Indians now living mined the gold secretly until a few years ago, when, believing that they had enough for all their future needs, they turned the waters of the pool into the mine. At this time they had large stores of the precious metal in an interior chamber, where one of their number was always kept on guard.”