"Wa'al, it was valuable stock, and I was hopin' all the while that something would turn up so's I could keep it, for I had some of their stock, and this would give me the control of the road.
"Wa'al, it did. Wardell turned up broke, and I got a hold on his stock. But the queer part of it is that there's some tangle in the matter—some legal complications that my lawyer is figuring out—and if Wardell only knowed enough he could file an injunction against havin' any of that stock transferred—even his lot that he put up with me as security. That would halt matters until he could make good on something else, and then he could pay me what he owes, and get this railroad stock back. But he don't know that he can do this, and I ain't goin' to tell him.
"It ain't up to me to do so. So all I've got to do is to hold on to his stock until a certain time, and then it will be too late for him to file any papers, and the stock will be mine forever, and I'll control the road. Ha! ha! It's a good joke on Wardell; ain't it?"
"I suppose you think so," said Mr. Hamilton, coldly, "but it seems like hard lines for him."
"Wa'al, he brought it on himself; didn't he? I didn't ask him to borrow my money. He asked me for it. I didn't ask him to go into any of these deals; he went into them himself with his eyes open. Now I'm not goin' to tell him he has a chance to get back his fortune, if he was only smart enough! No, sir. Ha! ha!
"I'm just goin' to keep quiet, and say nothin'. If the time limit expires, and he doesn't file that injunction, or whatever legal paper it is, with the California courts by a certain day, then his security railroad stock is mine, and it will be twice as valuable as when Wardell owned it. It'll be worth nigh onto a million! That's what I call business, I do!"
"Oh, yes, it's business—of a certain kind," admitted Mr. Hamilton. "And so he has a chance to get back his fortune?"
"Yes, but he don't know it, Mortimer! He don't know it! Ha! ha! That's the joke of it! He don't know it! He don't know it! He! he!" and Uncle Ezra went off into a fit of laughter that nearly choked him.
Dick, in the hall, heard, though not intending to play the eavesdropper.
"So, Wardell doesn't know; eh?" mused the young man. "He doesn't know, and Uncle Ezra thinks that's a joke. A queer joke. Wardell doesn't know what chance he has to get back his fortune. But I know, and Uncle Ezra, unless I'm very much mistaken, I'm going to put a spoke in your wheel!" and then Dick went silently upstairs to join his two chums.