A NEW PLAN.
Claude was so angry when he left his chair and started out to get his
horse that it was all he could do to keep from yelling. He had had a
short talk with his uncle, and it amounted to nothing. The story about
finding a news depot which he could have for eight hundred dollars was
made up out of his own head. All he wanted was to get the money in his
hands, and then he could live as he pleased.
“I see it is all up with me,” said Claude, as he mounted his horse
and set out for the range. “He does not intend to give me anything. I
have risked my life for him all these years—I would like to know if I
did not risk my life that time the cow charged upon me when I pulled
her out of the mud—and have kept his safe from being robbed; and all he
means to do is to fit me for a cowman! But I guess I won’t say anything
about going home just now. Uncle Preston can’t last forever, the
remedies he is using don’t help his cough one particle, and who knows
but I may get Carl to divide the business with me? I tell you that is
worth thinking of.”
The days passed on, and when two weeks had gone by the young cattle had
all been branded and the cowboys had a little more leisure on their
hands. At the end of that time his uncle called him into the office and
had his money all laid out for him.
“Now, Claude, if you are resolved to go, I can send somebody to show
you the way to the fort,” said he.
“Well, uncle, I have had plenty of opportunity to think the matter
over, and have come to the conclusion that I will not go home yet
awhile,” replied Claude. “This is the best business I can think of,
and with your permission I will follow it a little while longer. Four
hundred dollars, as you say, would not help me to go into anything by
which I could support myself in the city.”
“Oh, yes, we will keep you, and be glad to,” his uncle hastened to
answer. “And if you keep on, Carl will give you a thousand dollars to
enable you to start right.”
“That is better than nothing,” soliloquized Claude. “I hope you will
rest easy after giving me that small pittance out of your unbounded
wealth.” Then aloud he said: “You say that Carl will give me that
amount. What is the reason _you_ can’t give it?”
“Because I don’t expect to last very long,” said Mr. Preston. “In six
months from now I expect to be under the sod.”
“Oh, uncle, don’t talk that way,” exclaimed Claude, who for once in his
life felt really alarmed for his relative.
“There is no use in denying it. I feel that I am growing weaker every
day. Well, I guess that is all I have to say to you. If you are going
to stay with me, I will put this back in the safe.”
Claude was always angry after holding these talks with his uncle. He
went out of the door respectfully enough, and, making sure that there
was no one in the hall to observe his movements, he turned and shook
his fist at it, at the same time muttering something under his breath
which sounded very much like an oath.
During the days that followed it was seen by everybody that Mr. Preston
was gradually giving up to the dread disease, consumption, which had
so long threatened him. His cough got so bad that he was finally
obliged to give up riding entirely, and remained on his porch while
his men were out herding cattle. When Carl saw this he gave up all
hope and stayed behind with him; but affection could not curb the fell
destroyer. At last Mr. Preston took to his bed, from which he never got
up. The men came on tiptoe to his room to inquire after him, and even
Claude felt awed in the presence of death. That is, he tried to appear
so before the men; but when he got on his horse, away from everybody,
he could scarcely restrain himself.
“He must have made a will,” said Claude. “No person ever died with
such an amount of property on hand without doing so. Who knows but that
he has left me something? I will not wait for that thousand dollars.
Carl can keep it and welcome—that is, if he thinks he cannot get along
without it. I’ll take what is coming to me and go to the city, provided
I cannot get around Carl and get him to divide the business with me.
That is my only hope now.”
At last it was all over. When Claude came in from the range one day
something told him that “the meanest man he ever saw” was out of his
way for all time to come. Carl had shut himself up in his room, but
Claude soon found his way into the death-chamber, where he stayed just
one minute, and then came out. The three herdsmen who had gone off to
engage in business on their own responsibility were there, and also
several officers from the fort; for Mr. Preston was popular, and his
friends believed in showing him all the respect in their power.
Two days passed, and then all that was mortal of Mr. Preston was laid
away in a grave which he had selected for his eternal abiding-place.
Then the mourners returned to the house to witness the reading of
the will. The doctor took charge of the matter, and, beginning with
the foreman, he read all through until he came to Carl, to whom he
bequeathed all his property left over after the legacies had been
provided for. To each man he left one thousand dollars, and Claude’s
name had not been mentioned at all. That young gentleman was surprised
and thunderstruck; and all this while the doctor had been folding down
the will to get at a short codicil there was at the bottom of it. He
read it when he came to it, and even in death he found that his uncle
was still giving him advice. He bequeathed to Claude the sum of one
thousand dollars, and wound up with the hope that Claude would save
his money, and that it would be the means of leading him to prosperity
and success. The amount was so much smaller than Claude thought it was
going to be, that for a moment or two he hardly seemed to breathe; but
he finally came to himself, and taking up his hat, which lay beside him
on the floor, he walked out of the house. He held in pretty well until
he was behind the stables, out of sight, and then gave full vent to his
feelings.
“A thousand dollars!” said he, and this time he did not try to
interrupt the oaths that came out thick and fast. “And I saved his safe
from being robbed, too. I must try Carl now, although he is so awful
stingy I don’t think I can make anything out of him. If I once get a
drove of cattle to sell I will skip out with the first money I get.”
For a long time Claude did not go into the house. He felt enraged at
his uncle, and he knew it showed itself in his face; but after a while
he managed to go in in time for supper. The officers at the fort had
gone away, and there was no one left except the three men who had gone
off herding cattle for themselves. When he got there he found that
something of moment was being discussed.
“I don’t know how I shall act,” said Thompson, looking down at his
plate. “I never have been in the city in my life.”
“You can do just as I do,” answered Carl. “I never have been in the
city but a few times in my life, and I shall stay there no longer than
I can help. There are some men in St. Louis who ought to be in jail,
and if they found out that we had that amount of money with us they
would try to steal it. You will go with us, won’t you?” he added,
turning to his cousin, who at that moment came in. “Father has given by
his will ten thousand dollars that I have not got, and I shall have to
go to St. Louis after it. Thompson don’t want to go.”
Claude did not say anything immediately, for the words brought a new
plan into his head. If he was going to St. Louis after more money, what
was the reason he could not get that money for himself? He knew some
pretty rough characters in St. Louis, more’s the pity, and it would
be no trouble at all to induce them to waylay Carl in some manner and
get that money from him. But there was Thompson, who didn’t want to
go. He would go armed, of course—he could not go anywhere without his
revolvers were strapped around him—and he would be in the way. If he
could only think of some method to induce his cousin to leave Thompson
behind. Seeing that Carl’s eyes were fastened on him with an inquiring
look, Claude answered the question.
“Of course I will go with you, for St. Louis is the place I want to
see,” said he. “If Thompson would rather stay here——”
“But he isn’t going to stay here,” Carl hastened to reply. “I have
given my orders, which are for him to be ready to start for the city
to-morrow. He will be ready, of course. I will pay you your thousand
dollars after we get there.”
This put a stop to further conversation on the subject, for everybody
saw that Carl had made up his mind and that all argument was useless.
When supper was ended Claude went out on the porch and sat down with
his cousin.
“If I was in your place I would leave Thompson at home,” said he. “He
will be out of place there among all those nice people, and he won’t be
of any use to you, either.”
“I will risk that,” said Carl. “I want somebody along who is not afraid
to shoot if I get into trouble, and Thompson is the only one I know of.”
His cousin was firmly set upon this point, and Claude did not think it
best to pursue the subject any further. He now came to the matter that
was uppermost in his mind.
“Did Uncle Preston say anything to you about dividing this business
with me?” he asked suddenly.
“Not a word,” said Carl in astonishment.
“Well, he said something to me about it, and I supposed you had got
your instructions from him.”
“He never said a thing about it. He left the whole business in my
charge. He told me, however, that if you stayed here until you are able
to herd cattle for yourself I was to give you a thousand dollars to
help you along.”
“I confess that that is a surprise to me,” said Claude, as if he were
almost overwhelmed with astonishment. “I supposed that he was going to
provide for me during my lifetime.”
Carl was really amazed to hear this. Of one thing he was sure: If his
father had said anything to him about taking Claude into partnership
with him, he would have done it, although he would have rebelled
against it. But Claude did not know anything about herding cattle. He
would have felt as safe by taking some tenderfoot out of an office in
a city, who had never seen cattle on a stampede, and giving him a half
interest in his business.
“I had but a little over four hundred dollars coming to me, and he
said that amount was not enough to set me going till I could support
myself,” said Claude, leaning his elbows on his knees and gazing
thoughtfully at the floor. “I don’t know what I shall do now.”
“_I_ don’t know, I am sure. I shall carry out the terms of his will,
and more than that I cannot do.”
“You are willing to leave me to starve, I suppose?” said Claude,
allowing his rage to get the better of him.
“If fifteen hundred dollars won’t keep you till you can find something
to do, you ought to starve.”
During all the months that Claude had been with his cousin, living
under the same roof with him, and seeing him in no end of scrapes with
wild horses and wilder cattle, he had never seen him exhibit so much
spirit before. He started up in his chair and looked at Claude as
if waiting for him to say something else. Claude returned his gaze,
and then picked up his hat and walked away; but the moment he got
behind the stables he straightened up and shook both his fists in the
direction of the porch.
“I didn’t know that boy had so much pluck,” said Claude. “No matter
which way I turn, I am to be left out in the cold. Never mind. I’ve
seen worse men than Thompson got away with, and we’ll see whether or
not he gets away with all the money.”
“The idea of my dividing this business with him,” said Carl in disgust.
“Father never said a word about it. I would feel a great deal safer
if I had Thompson. But I don’t intend to stay around here after I get
back from St. Louis. I don’t want to be here, where everything will
remind me of father. I shall go down to the fort and hire out to the
commandant for a scout. I know the country as well as anybody, and I
will not get lost.”
Carl’s first care was to get himself ready for the journey that was
to come off on the morrow. He had been in the city but a few times
with his father, and he thought he was pretty well acquainted with
the banker who had charge of his father’s money; but in order to make
assurance doubly sure there was a letter in his sire’s will addressed
to the gentleman in question, and he was sure that it would gain him
the identification necessary for him to get the funds. This letter he
put carefully away in the inside pocket of the moleskin suit which he
laid out in readiness for the trip. Thompson came in after he had set
the men to work and seated himself on Carl’s bed.