"I withdraw my last offer. I came here to do solid business and not fool away my time competing with irresponsible parties who couldn't put up enough money to buy the chicken-house. Is this a square sale, Mr. Auctioneer, or is anybody without the means to purchase to be allowed to force up genuine buyers for the benefit of the vendor?"
"That's Lane's dummy, and I'm going to do some talking now," said Steel.
I was inclined to fancy that the usurer, perhaps believing there was no such thing as commercial honesty, had badly mistaken his man, or that the auctioneer, guided by his own quick wits, saw through his scheme, for he smote upon the table for attention.
"This is a square sale, so square that I can see by the vendor's looks he would sooner realize half-value than countenance anything irregular. I took it for granted that these gentlemen had the means to purchase, as I did in your own case. No doubt you can all prove your financial ability."
"One of them is still in debt," added the bidder.
I had moved close behind Lane, and fancied I heard him say softly to himself: "I'll fix you so you'll be sorry for your little jokes by-and-by."
A diversion followed. Goodwill to myself, hatred of the usurer, and excitement, may perhaps have prompted them equally, for after the would-be purchaser's challenge those of my neighbors who had escaped better than the rest clustered about Steel, who had hard work to record the rolls of paper money thrust upon him. Hardly had his rival laid down a capacious wallet upon the table than Steel deposited the whole beside it.
"I guess that ought to cover my call, and now I want to see the man who called me irresponsible," he said. "That's enough to raise me, but to hint that any honest man would back up the thief of a mortgage holder is an insult to the prairie."
A roar of laughter and approval followed, but the laughter had an ominous ring in it; and I saw Sergeant Mackay, who had been sitting still as an equine statue in his saddle on the outskirts of the crowd, push his horse through the thickest of the shouting men. He called some by name, and bantered the rest; but there was a veiled warning behind his jest, and two other troopers, following him, managed to further separate the groups. The hint was unmistakable, and the shouting died away, while, as the auctioneer looked at the money before him, the man who had been bidding glanced covertly at Lane.
"If you are satisfied with the good faith of these gentlemen, I'll let my offer stand," he said.