"That's about the size of it," Mr. Bruce admitted.
"But I still don't see how you made Jones buy our machine at such an enormous price," said the lad.
"I am rather proud of that stroke," admitted the lawyer. "Perhaps my method was not entirely ethical, but, as a lawyer, I owed a duty to you, my clients, before any abstract duty to the state. Once I got the lay of things, I began to study out how I could turn my discoveries to your advantage. Of course, I could have made public the discovery of the phosphate and the grant would not be made, but that would not repay you fellows for your losses. So I hit upon a scheme which was simple but effective. Do you remember I had you all sign some papers the first time I came out here?"
"Yes," said Charley, "and I have often wondered what they were."
"Each one has a homestead entry on 160 acres of that phosphate land. The whole of them just about covered the land for which the company was asking a grant. I got those entries all filed in the state land office, and that put an end to the grant question, and it brought Jones to my office almost foaming at the mouth, and ready to make almost any kind of terms. That is how I was able to make him buy your machine at a big price and assume your indebtedness. The papers you all signed to-day were a bill of sale and the relinquishment of your homestead claims. They leave the phosphate land open to grant again, if the state sees fit."
"It looks to me," observed Captain Westfield, "that we have given up millions of dollars to secure thousands."
"That's one way of looking at it," replied the lawyer dryly. "But let us see the other side. If you held that land you would have to live on it for four years before the state would give you title to it. You would have to build a railroad to the coast to get your phosphate out to market, and you would have to finish up the county road you are building, which would be a losing proposition from now on. In other words, it would take four years of your time, and about $300,000 of capital before you would get anything out of the phosphate."
"You're right," Charley agreed. "The homesteads would have just been white elephants on our hands. There is one feature about our settlement with Jones, however, that does not seem exactly right to me. The law ought to punish him for the killing of that Indian boy."
"That was the independent act of the gunmen, not Jones' act," said the lawyer. "Jones gave them orders not to hurt any of you, but just to frighten you off the job. He was away in town when the shooting was done. Of course, he is responsible, in a way, for the gunmen were his agents. He brought them out here. But how can it be proved against him? The gunmen are all dead, and, while we know Jones was responsible for your troubles, we would have a hard job proving it, for he has kept in the dark and covered up his tracks pretty well."
"You're right," the lad admitted, "and I for one am well satisfied with the way you have handled things. You have done the wisest thing all the way through. We are lucky to get out of the business so well off."