Chapter 13
"Sixteen thousand," cried Ricketts, taking out a handkerchief, and mopping his brow.
The missing man now re-appeared, and took his place beside the lawyer. The three heads came closer together, and Stranleigh watched them with half-closed eyes, apparently indifferent.
"The bid is against you, sir," said the Sheriff. "By the way, what name, please?"
"Stranleigh."
"Well, Mr. Stranleigh, I'm waiting for your bid."
"Don't wait any longer, Mr. Sheriff. I'm anxious to know how much money Mr. Ricketts possesses at the present moment. The ranch belongs to him if he can hand over to you sixteen thousand dollars."
Down came the gavel on the table.
"Mr. Ricketts, the ranch is yours."
Mr. Ricketts rose to his feet.
"I ask for a postponement of this sale for a week from to-day."
"I have no objection," said the Sheriff, "as of course I shall earn another fee."
There was a laugh at this, then the Sheriff continued--
"But I cannot postpone the sale without the consent of Mr. Stranleigh. What do you say, Mr. Stranleigh?"
"A postponement would be very inconvenient to me, much as I should like to oblige Mr. Ricketts. I therefore refuse my consent."
"If the Sheriff is willing," roared Ricketts, "we will postpone without your consent, even if we have to turn you out by force."
"I shouldn't try that if I were you, Mr. Ricketts. There are six friends of mine sitting beside me, who are dead shots, and I don't think this crowd would stand in the way if the first gun were levelled at you. I ask that the sale go peacefully on, Mr. Sheriff."
"There must be a postponement! The Sheriff has control over this meeting!"
"I am counting on that," said Stranleigh, "and I am sure that the Sheriff will adhere strictly to the law. How much money have you collected, Mr. Ricketts?"
"That's none of your business."
"Perhaps not; and so to make everything easy and agreeable to all concerned, I bid seventeen thousand dollars for the property."
"Show your money," demanded Ricketts.
"You wouldn't show yours, so why should I show mine?"
"Knock it down to him, Sheriff. I don't believe he has the cash."
"Seventeen thousand I am offered. Going at seventeen thousand once; going at seventeen thousand twice; going at seventeen thousand third and last time. Going! Gone!"
Down came the mallet.
"I shall be obliged if you will hand over to me seventeen thousand dollars, Mr. Stranleigh."
"Certainly. With your permission, gentlemen!" and the crowd parted good-naturedly. Stranleigh counted out the money on the Sheriff's table.
Armstrong and his men went home directly the sale was over, but Stranleigh remained until all the legal business was finished, and the documents were in his possession. As he rode back to the ranch, he meditated upon the situation in which he found himself. The object of his trip to the West had been achieved. He had left New York tired of its noise, its heated pavements and other uncomfortable disadvantages. He had thought he would never care to see the metropolis again, but now he was yearning for the atmosphere of a large city; London for choice. He determined to bid farewell at once to the Armstrongs and the bunk house men, then turn his face eastwards.
Miss Armstrong was amazed to learn his decision.
"But you haven't had even one day's shooting!" she protested.
"Oh, I'll come for that another time," he assured her.
"Before you go away, my father would like to make some arrangement with you about this ranch."
"I shall be very glad to come to an agreement with him."
The girl sped up to the silver mine, where her father was superintending the removal of the dynamite to its proper place, a job requiring some little care. Armstrong accompanied his daughter down to the house, and greeted Stranleigh with eagerness.
"I am anxious to lease this place from you, Mr. Stranleigh, with the option of buying it later on. I am sure I can make money from the silver mine."
"You must apply to the owner of the ranch, Mr. Armstrong."
"The owner!" echoed Armstrong, in some alarm. "You haven't sold the ranch since I saw you, I hope?"
"No; but like most other men, I am in debt, and I intend to use this property in payment of my obligation."
Armstrong was taken aback by this declaration. Turning to Miss Armstrong, Stranleigh took from his pocket a long, well-filled envelope.
"These, Professor, are all the legal documents necessary to make you the owner of the ranch, including deed and what-not. I am quite incapable of understanding the red tape wound round the transaction, but I am assured it is all right. I tender this in payment of my medical bill."
"Oh," cried the girl, softly. Then she smiled. "As the sensational plays have it, this is too much!"
"Not a bit of it," returned Stranleigh. "You have no idea of the appalling charges made by specialists in New York and London. Besides, this includes payment of Jim's bill. You cured Jim's ear as well as my shoulder, and I am responsible for Jim. His ear is the only shooting I have had since I came to the ranch."
The girl again began to protest, but Stranleigh interrupted.
"As you are so loth to receive the property, I shall burden it with some conditions. Your father will ask you to mortgage this land to raise money for him. You must refuse that. Keep the ranch in your own name. You have just seen how much trouble has been caused by Ricketts getting his claws on the place. Your father has got, or will get, something between ten and twelve thousand dollars from the proceeds of the sale. Will you put that money into your daughter's hands, Mr. Armstrong?"
"I suppose I'll have to if you say so," rather grudgingly conceded the rancher.
"Yes; I say so, because she is a good business woman. Now, Miss Armstrong, you own the ranch, and with this money at your disposal, you should be able to prove conclusively whether there is profitable ore in that mine. When you are ready to demonstrate that fact, write to me, and I'll get together the capital you need for the energetic development of the mine. And now I must be off. Will you bid good-bye for me to my friends, the bunk house men?"
"Certainly; where shall I write to you when there is news of the mine to send?"
"Mr. Banks of New York always has my address."
The girl held forward her hand.
"Good-bye to you, Lord Stranleigh of Wychwood," she said.
For the first time in his life, his lordship neglected to take the proffered hand of a lady.
"Are you making a guess, or stating a certainty, Miss Armstrong?"
"I guess it's a certainty. I saw in a New York paper that Earl Stranleigh of Wychwood was coming into this district to shoot. Then from Jim's ear I unbound a handkerchief with a crest and a monogram on it."
Stranleigh laughed, and took the hand still outstretched to him.
THE END.
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FAREWELL, NIKOLA.
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