“But could he do that?” I asked, alarmed at the proposition. “Just see all the writings we would have.”
“He could do it if we had a thousand times as much. He could just challenge the will, and by giving some little pettifogger money enough, and promising him as much more if succeeded, he could have it thrown into chancery and keep us out of it forever. He could do it easily enough. I never did like that man Henderson, anyway.”
Of course Mr. Chisholm made things different from what they were, and anybody could see that he didn’t know much about law; but it had an effect upon me, as I didn’t know anything about the ins and outs of the profession. I had never had any experience in it in my life, and I was appalled by his story of what that bad man could do in the way of contesting the will if he tried. It was Bob’s, and why couldn’t Bob have it? In a new State like Texas, law was not considered to be of as much use as it was in some older communities, and there was but one thing I could think of to use in Henderson’s case, and that was, to get him out of the way. I looked at Mr. Chisholm and could see that he was thinking of the same thing.
“There is but one way out of it,” he continued, after he had thought the matter over, “and that is a revolver shot. That will end all difficulty. This thing that he has got on his side may be law, but it is not justice.”
“There may be a better way than that,” I added, for I was disposed to be a boy of peace, “and it won’t do any harm to try it, for it will bring mischief to no one but Henderson. If we could prove that he was in cahoots with Coyote Bill——”
“Set me down for a blockhead!” exclaimed Mr. Chisholm, once more extending his hand. “But you are the very boy I want. You think of everything before I do. Of course we can prove it, for didn’t you and Tom Mason see him and talk with him when he came out there to the ranch? Carlos, you be around to-night, for we are going to Austin. We’ll take along sufficient men to keep Coyote Bill away from us if he sees us on the way, and go down and prove the will. Now, keep mum, for I don’t want any man around here to know it. So long!”
Mr. Chisholm and I returned to the wagon, and I invited myself to the dinner which Elam had served up in great shape for Tom Mason. Of course Bob was there and his face was radiant. I didn’t exactly understand what Mr. Chisholm meant by saying that we would go down to Austin to prove the will, but I was in for it. He seemed to think there was going to be a fight before we got there, but when I looked at Bob, so joyous now when he had been so distressed and cast down when he thought he had lost all his father’s property, I told myself that I was in for that too. There was one thing about it: Clifford Henderson wouldn’t get those bonds, or the cattle either, by simply asking for them.
“Tom Mason is the one you want to thank for finding that pocket-book,” I said, as I sat down beside him. “Elam, have you got a slice of bacon for me?”
“I know just what you both did and what you passed through when you were there,” said Bob. “This is no place for me to thank you. I will do that at some future time.”
For the first time it occurred to me that Bob might want to give Tom some present for being so lucky, and I was strongly in favor of that. For myself I didn’t want anything, for I had sold all my property to Uncle Ezra, who still had some of my money left in case I should happen to find him when dead broke; but Tom had suddenly taken it into his head that he must return home with the amount of money he had stolen from his uncle, and I was in favor of helping him out. When Bob got all his cattle and bonds safe to himself, that would be the time for him to act. I resolved that if he ever said anything to me, I would tell him just what I thought about it.