CHAPTER XVII. The Plan Discussed.

“There!” said Claude, as he lifted his face from the towel and gazed after the two men who were walking into the dining-room. “I have given them something to chew on. I don’t know whether they believe that Uncle Preston is guilty of meanness or not—I rather think, from the expression of their faces, that they do not; but it will show them what I think, and perhaps it will amount to something.”

Thompson, the foreman, was the one who objected to Mr. Preston hiring the men, and he showed it so plainly that it is a wonder the men did not see it. During the week following he would hardly pay any attention to them except to give them their orders, and he got through with that as soon as possible. At the end of that time he found opportunity to speak to Mr. Preston privately.

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“So you have hired those two men, have you?” said he.

“I have, and I didn’t think I could do any better,” said his employer.

“I should not raise a bit of fault with them if they were stock-herders,” said Thompson, “but I know they are not. When you go down to the fort make inquiries about them, and you will find that they have Indian wives. These men are making forty-five dollars a month, and their wives are getting their provisions for nothing.”

“Oh, I guess you are mistaken. These men must have had some object in coming here.”

“Yes, they have. Where do you keep the key to your safe?”

“In my pocket, of course.”

“Then it is all right. The cook will be here while you are around the house, and it will be dangerous for anybody to try to get it. You will be around with me or with Carl——”

“And Claude, too,” interrupted Mr. Preston.

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“Well, the least said about Claude the better,” said Thompson.

“Why, you don’t suspect Claude of having designs on that safe, do you?” said Mr. Preston in surprise.

“I don’t suspect anything; but you just take my advice and keep your eyes on that safe. You’ve got most too much money in there.”

“I declare this beats me! Things have come to a pretty pass when a man cannot keep in his possession what money he needs.”

“I am only just telling you what I believe,” said Thompson. “I have had an eye on that man Claude for a long time. When you pay off the hands he is the last one in your office, and I expect he takes particular notice of where you put the key.”

“Thompson,” said Mr. Preston, suddenly putting his hand into his pocket, “do me the favor to keep this key. I am not as strong as I used to be——”

“I know you are not,” said the foreman sadly. “Time was when you would have gloried to have somebody come here with the intention of walking off with the contents of Page 210 that safe, but it ain’t so now. I will take the key, and if anybody gets it, it will be when I am laid out.”

Thompson rode off to attend to his duties, feeling much better than he did when he began his conversation with his employer. He was hale and strong, a dead shot, as utterly devoid of fear as it is possible for a man to be, and it would be a dangerous piece of business for one to attempt to put his hand onto that key while it was in his possession.

“I feel all right now,” said Thompson, who drew a long breath of relief. “I have been worrying about that key ever since Claude has been here, but now I would like to see him get it. Many a time, before Claude came here, I have seen Mr. Preston go off and leave the key to that safe sticking in the lock for weeks at a time, and nobody ever thought of going near it. He has been a little cautious about that ever since I spoke to him concerning it. I’ll take the cook into my confidence. He is a sure shot, keeps his revolvers hung up where he can put his hands on them at an instant’s Page 211 warning, and with him watching in the house and me watching outside we have the dead wood on them.”

The conversation had a very different effect upon Mr. Preston. He became suspicious of everybody. He watched his men and Claude continually; and, though they were always respectful in their manner toward him, he felt that there was something behind it all. One reason was because Claude had not yet talked with the men. He was waiting for them to “show their hands,” and that came about right speedily. When the fall round-up came, and the young cattle had to be branded, it chanced that Claude and the two men were together during the best part of the day. As long as Thompson was with them they went about their work in earnest; but when the foreman went away, Harding, who seemed to have been waiting for this opportunity, entered upon the subject at once. He must have known just how the matter was coming out, or he would have been a little more cautious about it.

“You say your uncle treats all his hands Page 212 mean,” said he, addressing himself to Claude. “I think he treats us all right.”

“No doubt he does you,” replied Claude, “but he is only waiting for an opportunity to turn loose on you. If we should let these steers get away from us and start toward the entrance of the valley, then you would see what kind of a man uncle is.”

“Well, I don’t know as I blame him any for that,” said Harding. “There are lots of cattle on the prairie for them to mingle with.”

“You ought to be in my place once,” said Claude. “You would get a blessing every night for not doing your work up right. I tell you, I am getting sick of it.”

“Why don’t you quit him?”

“Because I haven’t any other place to go. Forty-five dollars a month is better than nothing.”

“You say he has lots of money in that safe?” continued Harding, coming down to the point at once.

“Oceans of it.”

“Do you know where he keeps the key?”

“I do. He has it in his pocket; but then Page 213 he takes his clothes off every night and throws them over a chair.”

“Do you suppose you could work your way in there at night and get it? You would have to be careful and not wake him up.”

“Oh, yes, I could do it. Uncle sleeps like a log.”

Harding went off at a lope to catch a steer that objected to being rounded up, and when he came back Claude waited for him to say something more; but the cowboy seemed to have had his talk out. After waiting until his patience was exhausted, Claude broke in with——

“Now, I want to know what you mean by inquiring in regard to uncle’s safe? It’s there in the office, and there is nobody going to rob it, either.”

“How much money do you think he has in the safe?” asked Harding. “It wouldn’t pay to break into it and get nothing out.”

“He has eighteen hundred dollars in there that I know of,” said Claude. “I remember that when he sold those hundred head to the Page 214 paymaster at the fort I passed through the hall and saw a big wad of greenbacks on the table. He got twenty dollars apiece for the cattle, and that would clear him two thousand dollars; but he has since paid out about two hundred of it.”

“That’s a power of money,” said Harding, his eyes sparkling when he thought of handling that amount. “That would be—how much apiece?”

“For three of us? That would make six hundred dollars.”

“Now, can you keep still if I tell you something?” asked Harding suddenly.

“Of course I can. I can keep a secret.”

“Well, Ainsworth and me have come here with the intention of seeing the contents of that safe before we go away.”

“I know it.”

“You do?” exclaimed Harding, looking at him suspiciously. “Who told you of it?”

“Nobody. I just knew it from the way you acted.”

“Do you suppose anyone else suspects it?”

“Not that I know of. You have kept still Page 215 when other people were around, and I don’t think anybody mistrusts you.”

“We will give you one-third of what we get if you will go in with us and get the key.”

“I am in for it; but the question is, what shall we do to keep the money after we get it? The whole country will be after us.”

“And it will take more than the whole country to catch us, too,” said Harding with a grin. “We’ll go off among the Sioux Indians.”

If Claude had had any intention of joining the squawmen in any attempt on the safe, this proposition of Harding’s would almost have taken his breath away. He had seen some of the Indians during the two years he had been there, and the idea of taking up his abode with them was not to be thought of for a moment. They were so filthy that he could not bear to go near them; but he had another motive in view. All he wanted now was to get at Harding’s plans, and then he would go straight to his uncle with them. He was sure that in that way he would get a reward for saving him from being robbed.

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“Well, what do you say?” asked Harding.

“Will you feel perfectly safe from capture while you live with the Sioux?” asked Claude.

“Oh, yes. The Indians always have spies among the white folks, and they would keep us posted. They can’t catch us there.”

“Well, I will go. When do you think you will make the attempt?”

“To-morrow night, if my partner agrees to it. I am getting sick of this cattle business. I long to be back in my tepee, where I can lay down and smoke as long as I please. I’ll speak to my partner at noon, and I’ll tell you what he says. Here comes that Thompson. I’d like to get him out on the prairie where I could get a fair squint at him with my rifle. I would teach him to lay around and watch his betters.”

“Here, boys!” shouted the foreman as he galloped up; “you don’t drive these cattle fast enough. It will be dark before we get them down to the corral. You Claude! take after that fellow and bring him back.”

Claude put his horse into a gallop and “took after” the unwilling steer who objected Page 217 to going toward the corral; but he was grateful to Thompson for sending him away, for he wanted to have time to compose his features. His chance for making money had come at last. Of course there was a chance for him to arouse the suspicion of the squawmen, who would take speedy revenge upon him, and that was one thing against which he must guard himself. He would not be seen any more in his uncle’s company than he had been heretofore, and when Carl came toward him for the purpose of helping him he had business on the flank of the drove, at some little distance away.

“I know I am all right now,” said Claude to himself, “and the main thing must be to keep myself all right. If I am seen around in your company, and the squawmen shall slip up on their plan of robbing the safe, I will be the first to suffer for it. I’ll wait until night, and then I’ll fix things as they ought to be.”

But it seemed to him that night was a long way off. The cattle were driven toward the corral, the calves separated from them and Page 218 put in the inclosure, and amid the confusion and noise that attended all this Ainsworth found time to give Claude an encouraging wink.

“What do you mean by that?” whispered Claude.

“It is all right,” was the reply. “We will see you to-morrow night and tell you what to do.”

“Look here,” said Claude, looking all around to make sure that no one was watching him, “I am not to do anything but get the key, am I?”

“No—that will be enough for us.”

“And I am to get my third of the money as soon as we get it?”

“Sure. You don’t think we would try to take it away from you?”

“Well, I don’t know. You cowboys are mighty reckless in handling money, and you might tell me to look farther before you would give me a cent.”

“As sure as you live and breathe we have no such an idea,” said Ainsworth, opening his eyes in surprise. “You get the key for us and we will give you the money.”

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“That is a little too far-fetched,” thought Claude, as the last calf was driven inside the corral. “You were almost too ready to promise me that money. It must be pretty near night now, and I am just aching to tell my uncle of the plans that have been laid against him. How much will he give me? Five thousand dollars at least. If he gives me less than that I shall be sorry I told him.”