“The trouble is, you arrived too late, Rad. You should have been here the day the well started. But don’t let that worry you. There’s apt to be plenty of noise and excitement around here before we see Shopton once more. I heard to-day that the Hankinshaw crowd is out after our scalps, and we may have our hands full with them before long.”
That Koku and Rad were glad to be reunited goes without saying, though they were soon engaged as lustily as ever in their vociferous but harmless verbal battles.
Tom had received word that morning from a friend in Copperhead that the Hankinshaw gang were furious over the news of his successful strike, and had sworn to get even by hook or crook. Tom was not sure that this warning should be taken seriously, and yet it might be well to be on his guard, so that afternoon he and Mr. Damon and Ned had a conference to discuss the matter. They decided that about all they could do was to keep a wary eye out for the first hostile move of their enemies, and trust to outwitting them if they could.
“I don’t exactly see what they could do,” mused Ned thoughtfully.
“Of course, there’s always the possibility of personal violence,” returned Tom. “I know that Hankinshaw hates me like poison and he wouldn’t weep any bitter tears if something happened to me. But I’ve handled him before and I can handle him again if he starts anything.”
“I know,” faltered Ned. “But he’s slippery and underhanded, and——”
“He might not face you in the open,” put in Mr. Damon anxiously. “There are a lot of desperate characters hanging around every new oil field, and he might hire some of them to do what he wouldn’t dare to do himself. Be on your guard, my boy. Hankinshaw is a man to be reckoned with.”
CHAPTER XXIII
A DASTARDLY PLOT
Hankinshaw was indeed a man to be reckoned with. He was of a sullen and revengeful nature, and prided himself on always “getting even” with any one who crossed his will. For Tom and his friends he entertained an especially bitter feeling, not only because of the clashes at Shopton, but also because he had succeeded in persuading himself that Tom had “double crossed” him in getting the rights to the drilling on the Goby farm. In reality, Tom had been moved more by a desire to protect the blind man from being swindled than by a wish for his own personal gain.
However, as is common with men of his sort, Hankinshaw judged Tom by his own warped and twisted standards, and even before oil had been struck on the Goby farm he was planning to have revenge for the fancied injury. But when he learned that Tom had actually struck a gusher, his anger and chagrin knew no bounds. He saw the riches that he had thought to pocket himself going to others, and the sight drove him fairly wild with rage. He immediately called his confederates together, that they might plan some way to bring about Tom’s downfall.