“What makes yer think I’ve got it?” he demanded.
“That’s neither here nor there,” Bob replied in decided tones. “The question is whether or not you have got it.”
“S’pose I have, what’s it worth ter you?” the man asked with an ugly grin.
“Do you mean how much will we give you for it?”
“That’s about the size of it,” the man replied with a still broader grin.
“Not a cent,” Bob answered in stern tones. “That deed belongs to my father, and if you were an honest man you would have given it to him and he would have doubtless given you a generous reward, but now you don’t get a single cent for it.”
“Don’t yer be too sure about that part of it. I know of a man who’ll be glad ter pay me a good price fer it and don’t yer forgit it,” he declared, taking a step nearer the boys.
“Then you acknowledge that you have it?” Bob asked.
“I ain’t acknowledging nothin’,” the man growled. “If I’ve got it, it’s my business, an’ if I ain’t, that’s my business too.”
During this conversation Nip had held the revolver pointed directly at Bob, and to tell the truth the latter was far from feeling as unconcerned as he appeared. He had had dealings with the man before and he was well aware of his unprincipled character. He also knew that the man was a coward unless all the odds were on his side. But now they were far away from any human being and he did not doubt, for a minute, that he would hesitate to kill them both if he thought that it was to his advantage to do so. The situation, he felt, demanded immediate and heroic measures.