HOLDING POSSESSION.
It was a mournful-looking superintendent Bob made when his partners had
left him alone with the officer who was acting as keeper of the property
Massie had attached in pursuance of his swindling scheme.
Bob had a wholesome dread of openly defying the law. In a case like
moonlighting, where the question of legality had never been definitely
settled, he had been prompt enough to take his chances as to whether he
was proceeding in strict accordance with, or directly against, the law;
but in the present case, where the man whom he would have been most
pleased to forcibly eject from the premises was armed with all the
powers of the court, Bob was obliged to content himself with thinking
what he would like to do.
As the officer sat there near the engine-house, doing no more than was
absolutely his duty, Bob looked upon him as simply Mr. Massie's
representative, and the temptation to vent his anger by some act of
violence was very great.
He restrained himself, however, from saying or doing anything that
would entangle him in the meshes of the law; but in order to preserve
this outward tranquility, he was obliged to ease his mind in some way,
which he did by actually glowering at the innocent officer as though he
would "wither him with a glance."
Of course there was a certain amount of work which it was absolutely
necessary to do, such as caring for the oil, attending to the engine
which forced the oil into the tank, and such things as even the law
might not be able to restrain. But the work on the buildings, the
sinking of pipes in order to get a supply of gas for illuminating
purposes, extending the road from the well to the house, and all that
labor which was for the purpose of improvement of the property, was
necessarily at an end.
Had George remained, his prudence would have dictated the discharge of
all their force of workmen who were not employed exclusively on the
well, until the question at law had been settled. But to Bob such a
course seemed too much like submitting to what was a deliberate wrong,
perpetrated under the guise of justice, and he preferred the expense,
rather than even the semblance of "backing down."
The officer may or may not have had a disagreeable time in the pursuance
of his duty while Ralph and George were in town; but to Bob it was
certainly anything but pleasant, since he had great difficulty in not
coming to an open conflict with this personification of law, brought in
to aid fraud.
It seemed to the ex-moonlighter as if his companions would never return,
and once at least during every ten minutes he walked toward the house,
in the hope of seeing them as they came up the lane.
It was not until quite two hours past noon that his vigil was rewarded,
and then he saw them coming toward the house with a fourth party in the
wagon, whom he rightly conjectured was the lawyer whom they had been to
consult.
"Well," he cried, even before they had had time to alight from the
wagon; "how have you made out?"
"I haven't got time to tell you now," said George, hurriedly; "but you
will hear it all when we are through with what we have to do. Mr.
Hillman, the lawyer whom we consulted, and who has come out with us,
says that the first and main thing to do is to hold possession, not only
of the wood-lot, but of the farm. Massie will attempt this very
afternoon to get his men in here, as his lawyer threatened, and if he
succeeds we shall be the ones who will have to sue him, instead of his
being the outside party, as he is now."
"Can we prevent any one from coming here?" asked Bob, quickly.
"Certainly you can, and must," replied the lawyer. "No one can come here
without your permission until after the matter has been decided in
court, and you must be careful that no one does."
"That settles it, then," said Bob, gleefully, as he started towards the
well. "The first thing I'll do will be to fire out that fellow Massie
has got here, and he won't be handled very tenderly either."
"Stop!" cried the lawyer, obliged to speak very loudly, for Bob was some
distance away before he had ceased speaking. "That man has a perfect
right to be here, for he represents the court in the matter of holding
certain movable property until the suit can be decided. What you are to
do is simply to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining admittance."
"But how is that going to help matters?"
And Bob was again disconsolate because this revenge had been denied him.
"I prefer to wait until Mr. Gurney can get here before I decide fully on
just what shall be done," replied Mr. Hillman. "He stands very high as a
lawyer, and his advice in the matter will be worth much more than mine."
"Well," asked the moonlighter, impatiently, "how are we going to prevent
any one from coming on the land?"
"That is a very easy matter. With your workmen and yourselves, you ought
to form a regular patrol at those few points at which a person could
enter, and the law will sustain you in keeping any one away, who does
not come armed with an order from the court, even though you use force."
That was sufficient for Bob. Legally entitled to act on the offensive,
under certain circumstances, and to defend his and Mr. Simpson's
property against all save those coming in the name of the law, there was
an opportunity for him to work off some of the anger which he had found
so difficult to restrain during the forenoon.
George and Ralph were perfectly willing to let him attend to the
defenses, they acting under his orders, and Bob set to work with a
feverish energy that boded ill for the perfecting of Mr. Massie's
scheme.
Pete was ordered to take up his position at the entrance of the lane
which led to the Simpson house, and Mr. Simpson was detailed to see that
the negro did his duty. A stout club was all he was allowed as a weapon;
but this would be sufficient, it was thought.
Four of the workmen, under the immediate supervision of Jim, were
stationed at the road leading to the well, and their orders were
peremptory against allowing any one to enter unless with the express
permission of Mr. Hillman, who, if any papers purporting to be orders
from the court were presented, would first examine them to learn if they
were correct.
Four more men, under Dick, were stationed along the front of the
property, with orders to patrol the entire line, and three others were
stationed around the house, under Ralph's charge.
Bob intended to have a personal supervision of all the points of
defense, and in order that he might move about more readily, he had one
of his horses saddled, by which means of locomotion he could visit each
of his sentries at least once every half hour.
The officer who had been stationed at the works as keeper of the
property Massie had attached, was informed that he would be considered a
trespasser, and treated as such, if he attempted to go anywhere except
just where those articles were which he was expected to guard.
George and the lawyer were thus left free from any duty of guarding the
place, and this Bob very wisely concluded was necessary, since they
might be obliged to go to town at any moment.
Mrs. Simpson was set at work cooking up a quantity of food for the
defenders of the castle, and this Bob proposed to carry to them himself,
for he did not intend that one of his men should leave his post, even
for a moment.
After all this was done, Bob had time to talk with George and Mr.
Hillman relative to the interview that had been held in town.
Mr. Simpson had remained in the same dazed condition he had fallen into
when Massie's attorney first appeared, and had been unable to repeat a
single word of the interview he had had with the money-lender when he
paid off the mortgage, or to remember what had been done at the time.
The records had been searched, however, and no release had been found;
therefore, it was plain that Mr. Simpson's ignorance of such matters had
caused him to neglect to ask for one.
The probabilities were that Mr. Massie, after learning of the valuable
well which had been found on this property which might have been his had
he not tried to gain possession of the whole farm, had taken advantage
of this oversight on the part of his debtor, and, although he had been
repaid the borrowed money, intended to deny that he had ever received
it.
That Mr. Hillman had fears of the ultimate result was shown by his
desire to consult with Mr. Gurney before taking any steps in the matter,
other than to hold possession of the property, and all the partners save
Mr. Simpson, who did not seem to be able to understand anything just
then, felt that there was a possibility that they might lose "The
Harnett" after all their labor and rejoicing.
Bob was by no means easy in his mind when he left Mr. Hillman and George
to begin his rounds of the outposts; but he was determined that, since
all they could do was to hold possession, no one not legally entitled to
it should gain admittance to the place.
For two hours, during which Bob had made his rounds four times, nothing
had been seen to indicate that any one had even a desire to enter the
Simpson farm, and then, while Bob was talking with the old man, trying
to force him to remember all he had done while at Mr. Massie's office,
three wagons filled with men were seen down the road coming directly
toward the place.
There could be no question but that this was the money-lender's party
coming to take possession, and they were in larger force than any one
had anticipated.
Riding quickly to the house, Bob ordered Ralph and his men to join Pete
and Mr. Simpson, and then he called in Dick and his men, giving these
last orders to proceed at once to support Jim, in case any of the
newcomers attempted to go that way.
He thought, however, that the greatest trouble would be had at the lane,
and he believed he was fully prepared for it.