“I tell you I want to get hold of all of it,” said Henderson. “It is mine, and I don’t see why he should want that little nuisance to cheat me out of it. The thing would be safe enough if I could get somebody to trust. I want him to go to the old man’s ranch and find out where he keeps his bonds hidden. It would be no trouble at all for him to steal them.”
This was all Henderson found it necessary for him to say on that subject; Coyote Bill “caught on” immediately. He understood that Henderson wanted him to go to the ranch and steal those bonds. He arose to a sitting posture and smoked audibly while he meditated.
“It seems to me that that could be easily done,” said he.
“Why, I know it could! If I was as I used to be in my brother’s house, I would gain the whole thing in a week. But the trouble is I threatened him when I left. I told him that if Bob ever lived to become his heir, I would follow him up and make him know what it was to be in want as I was at that moment.”
“Well, I’ll try it,” said Bill.
“You will?” asked Henderson, so overjoyed that he could scarcely speak plainly. “I didn’t suppose that you would go there yourself, but thought that maybe you could find some man to send in your place.”
“I would rather go myself, because I will know that everything has been done. You see, there isn’t one man in ten who knows me. I could go there and pass myself off for a miner.”
“That’s the idea! The old man has been there, and you could tell him what you pleased. Have you ever been in the mines?”
“No. I am as close to them as I care to get. If I find that strategy won’t work, I suppose I could put the Indians on them.”
“Indians?” said Henderson.