“I came out to deliver a message from Mr. Bosworth,” Gilroy answered. “He has some work he wants you boys to do.”
“Work is right in our line!” Harry answered with a laugh.
“Well, hurry up and tell us all about it,” Jack suggested calmly, “because, you know, we ought to be out looking for Ned.”
“It’s just this way,” Gilroy began, “Jack’s father is acting as attorney for a large mining corporation. His employers have always believed their title to certain lands in this vicinity absolutely flawless. Some of these lands are valuable for timber, some for minerals, and some for agricultural purposes. As I said before, some of these lands lie in this vicinity, and a railroad the employers own will soon build a spur in here to market the minerals and the lumber.
“Now,” the confidential clerk went on, “it has been discovered that there are other claimants to these lands. It is asserted that they were given to the descendants of Franciscan monks who were here at the time so many missions were scattered over California. At any rate, people who came over with the Franciscans, if not Franciscans themselves, left progeny who now claim these lands.
“The Mexican government recognized the titles, but the United States government never did. The claimants have no standing whatever in the courts, but they propose to keep possession under the old law of club and fang. Of course, they can’t keep possession long, but they can put the corporation to a great deal of trouble.”
“It looks to me,” Jack interrupted with a grin, “that father should have sent a regiment of United States troops instead of one confidential clerk. Now, just what is it he wants us to do?”
“He wants you boys to scout about and find out exactly who is at the bottom of all this trouble. He believes that the alleged heirs are ignorant pawns in the hands of a corporation with which his own companies are at sword’s points.
“His first thought was to send a company of detectives in here, but he concluded later on that a vacation crowd of Boy Scouts would attract less attention, and might not be suspected at all. In accordance with this reasoning he sent me out to tell you to learn everything possible regarding present complications.”
“Does he think this corporation he is fighting has already sent mercenaries out here to make trouble?” asked Jack.