“My dear boy, you have not been the least particle of bother,” said Mr. Davenport hastily. “Now you know why it was that I didn’t want you to go fishing or hunting without me. I was afraid Henderson might do you some damage.”
“Did he want to kill me?”
“No, indeed! I was afraid he might abduct you. You haven’t seen him since you were seven years old, and if he could have abducted you then, and got you away where you could have signed the papers——”
“Why, father, my signature as a minor wouldn’t have amounted to anything!” said Bob.
“No; but he could have kept you until you were twenty-one, and then your signature would have amounted to something, I guess. But I will talk to you more about this in the morning. I have talked so much that I am fagged out. You are sure you don’t think any the less of me for what I have done?”
“Indeed, I do not!” said Bob, gently assisting the invalid back upon his bed. “If all the money you have should go to Henderson, I should always think of you as I do now.”
“Well, I should think a great deal less of myself,” replied Mr. Davenport emphatically. “Bob, you will get it all. I could not rest easy in my grave if I knew you were to be cheated out of it. You five boys will bear testimony to what I say? Thank you! Now, Bob, cover me up from the night air. Good-night!”
Mr. Davenport sank back on his pillows and soon breathed the sleep of exhaustion, while the rest of us, who couldn’t bear to think of lying down, went out upon the porch. Of course I was glad to see that the cowboys had got over their suspicions of Elam and me, and one would have thought from some expressions they used that such a thing had never been heard of, even in Texas. We lighted our pipes and sat down to smoke on it, hoping that the thing would come clearer to us under the influence of the weed. The only thing the cowboys blamed Mr. Davenport for was that he did not expose Coyote Bill when he found out what his intentions were. And how had Bill happened to get acquainted with Henderson? That was one thing that they could not understand.
“This thing isn’t settled yet, by a long ways,” said Frank, who, having emptied one pipe, filled up for a fresh smoke. “Just the minute anything happens to the old man, that fellow Henderson will come on here and lay claim to that pocket-book. But Bob will already have it safe in his good clothes. I want to see the man that says it is his.”
“So do I,” said Lem. “He won’t say it a second time, I bet you!”