“I didn't have any particular choice. If you have enemies I will not sell you into their hands, and you can make the mortgage for as long a period as you please, up to three years. Give me a list of banks to keep away from. I don't want to hurt you unnecessarily, I assure you.”
“Thank you, McGraw” quavered his victim. “If you'll let me sit at my desk I'll draw those checks.”
“Certainly. Only I want the checks certified, Carey. You understand, of course, that I shall not surrender the evidence I have against you until those checks are paid. I will not risk your telephoning the banks, the moment I leave your office, telling them the checks were secured by force and threats of bodily harm, and for them to decline payment.”
Carey wrote the checks, called in a clerk and instructed him to take them to the various banks and arrange for the overdraft and certification—a comparatively easy task, since Carey was a heavy stockholder in all three banks. Within half an hour, while Bob and Carey sat glaring at each other, the checks were returned, and Carey handed them to Bob, who examined them and found them correct. The mortgage was next filled out, the notary called in, and Carey signed and swore to his signature.
“Now, in order to be perfectly legal about this matter, Carey,” began Bob, when the notary had departed, “we should show some consideration for all this money. I have here the papers showing I have filed on twenty acres of a mining claim. It's just twenty acres of the Mojave desert, near San Pasqual, and I do not know that it contains a speck of valuable mineral, but that is neither here nor there. I staked it as a mining claim and christened it the Baby Mine.”
Here a slight smile flickered across the young Desert Rat's face, as if some very pleasant thought had preceded it. He continued:
“I have had my signature to this deed to the Baby Mine attested before a notary a few minutes prior to my arrival in your office.” He handed the document to T. Morgan Carey. “Here's your mine, Carey. I've sold it to you for a million dollars, and unless you spend one hundred dollars a year in assessment work, the title to this million-dollar property will lapse. I wish you luck with your bargain. I shall expect you to record this deed within three days, and that will block any come-back you may start figuring on. If you fail to record this deed I shall construe your act as a breach of faith, return to you all but the five hundred thousand dollars which belongs to my wife, and then proceed to make things disagreeable for you. Remember, Carey, I'm your attorney and you should be guided by my advice.”
Carey's face was livid with rage and hatred. “And in addition, I suppose I'm to forget that you're a stage robber, eh?” He reached for the telephone. “By the gods, McGraw, I'll take a chance with you after all. I'm going to fight you.”
Bob McGraw drew a large envelope from his pocket. “You may read what this envelope contains while waiting for central to answer your call” he said gently. “I snipped the wires while you were hiding your face in your hands, wondering what you were going to do. These papers are merely a few affidavits, proving an absolute alibi in the matter of that Garlock robbery. I was eating frijoles and flapjacks with three prospectors about fifteen miles south of Olancho at the time this stage was held up, and I was in Keeler the following morning. This document contains a statement of the most amazing case of circumstantial evidence you ever heard of. Its author is the chief of Wells Fargo and besides, I have queer ideas on the subject of punishment for crime. Crime, Mr. Carey, is a great deal like our other human ailments, such as the chicken-pox and tonsilitis. We must bear with it and try to cure it by gentle care and scientific treatment. Prison cells have never cured a criminal, and it would only pain me to see you behind the bars in your old age. And I am certain that my wife would not rejoice at the news of your hanging.”
“I suppose money has nothing to do with the celerity with which you hasten to compound a felony, eh?” sneered Carey.