“Not a red cent!” I replied indignantly. “But you can talk of making some money out of it when you come to the ranch in company with such men as——”
“That is neither here nor there,” interrupted Henderson, who saw in a minute that I was about to expose him. “I want you to show me that will. I can tell you whether or not it is genuine.”
“Well, boys, let’s go and hunt up Mr. Chisholm,” said one of the men, who saw that we were getting down to a fine point. “He is the lawyer in this business and will know exactly what ought to be done.”
“I am just as good a lawyer as he is, and I don’t need one; and furthermore, I won’t have any!” declared Henderson. “I tell you I want to see the will. I will know whether or not it is genuine. I am here alone and you are five to my one. Let me see it, I tell you!”
Henderson was about as near crazy as a man could get and live, and if we had been alone I should have objected to show him the pocket-book; but there were two men there whom I was not afraid to trust. I looked at one of them, and he said:
“As he is the next of kin I think he has a right to see the will. You may show it to him without any fear that he will get away with it. Get on the other side of him, boys!”
“If you are going to watch me in this way, you can keep your old will!” said Henderson, as plainly as he could speak, which, owing to his excitement and rage, might have been taken for something else. “You will find that there is a surrogate in this county who has to have the will proved, and I shall start in search of him before I am an hour older. Keep away from that horse. What are you putting your hands on him for?”
Two of the men, without paying any attention to what he said, “got around on the other side of him,” one laying his hand upon his bridle and the other drawing his revolver and resting it across the hollow of his arm. I saw that Henderson was fairly cornered, and without any further comments I pulled out the pocket-book and gave it to the spokesman. When Henderson’s eyes rested upon it it was all he could do to keep from snatching it.
“That first paper is the will,” said I. “It is signed by Robert Davenport, who, when he showed us the will, said: ‘I take my oath that this is my proper signature,’ or words to that effect. Tom Mason and I signed it, while Elam Storm made his mark. He can’t write, you know. Bob Davenport signed it as a witness.”
“I see you are all against me, but I want to see the will,” said Henderson. “You had better mind what you are about, for they have a queer way of dealing with men in this part of the country who swear to a lie!”