“I don’t know whether I can tell this story accordin’ to Hoyle, but I’ll try. Once upon a time, as the story books say, there was an old miser who wanted the earth and the fullness thereof. Is that O. K., Buck? Does she start out right?”
Buck laughed good-naturedly, nodding his head again, and Rube went on.
“This old gazabo was the uncle and administrator of the estate of a minor heir. Don’t I get any help in this narration?”
Rube waited a moment for a reply, but, none coming, he went on again, stammering and making a great mess of it. To tell the truth, Alex and Jule were too much interested in the story which was still coming to do anything to interrupt it.
“The old uncle was also guardeen of this minor heir, and it is easy to guess what a life he led the boy. By the way, it may be well to state right here that this old man was next of kin, and would inherit a fortune if the heir should die.”
Rube paused a moment to wipe his forehead, and then went on, after casting an appealing glance in Buck’s direction.
“This lad, who was only sixteen, thought the guardeen’s plans all wrong, and, after thinking the matter over a long time, decided to elope with himself, which he did!”
“Why don’t you mention names?” demanded Jule. “The boy’s name was Paul Stegman, wasn’t it?”
“You just wait until the story is finished,” answered Rube, with a broad grin. “Well, the old geezer tried his level best to catch the boy and land him in a home for imbeciles, or some such shop, but the kid had disappeared.
“One day the old man thought of one kink that hadn’t been worked, and that was the West. So he entered into correspondence with three men—a surgeon, and two officers of the law.”