RANDOLPH MASON leaned forward and struck his hand heavily on the arm of
his chair.
“Forty thousand,” he said sharply, “you owe that sum, sir?” His face
looked old, sunken, and furrowed with heavy dark lines, but his eyes
shone under his shaggy brows.
“Yes,” responded the grazier, “fully that much.”
“To secure that amount in cash,” continued Mason, “it will be necessary
to deal with some bank or savings institution of which the president
or some powerful director is an attorney-at-law. This condition will be
found to obtain in almost any one of the small towns of the country, and
if my directions are followed strictly, the plan can be carried out and
the money secured in a very few hours. The plan is simple and easy. In
the first place----”
“But,” said the giant Alshire, “I don't want other men's money. I don't
want to commit a crime.”
The veins in the forehead of Randolph Mason grew black with anger.
“Commit a crime!” he cried. “No man who has followed my advice has ever
committed a crime. Crime is a technical word. It is the law's name for
certain acts which it is pleased to define and punish with a penalty.
None but fools, dolts, and children commit crimes.”
“Well,” responded the grazier, “whether the plan you are about to
propose is a crime or not, it is certainly a moral wrong, and I have no
desire to rob a bank by committing even a moral wrong.”
Randolph Mason arose slowly and pointed his finger at the huge Alshire.
“The old story,” he sneered, “child afraid of a goblin. Moral wrong! A
name used to frighten fools. There is no such thing. The law lays down
the only standard by which the acts of the citizen are to be governed.
What the law permits is right, else it would prohibit it. What the law
prohibits is wrong, because it punishes it. This is the only lawful
measure, the only measure bearing the stamp and the sanction of the
State. All others are spurious, counterfeit, and void. The word moral is
a pure metaphysical symbol, possessing no more intrinsic virtue than the
radical sign.”
“I beg your pardon, Mr. Mason,” said Van Meter thrusting into the
conversation, “but I am quite certain that you mistake the request of
my friend. He is not attempting to secure any sum of money. He simply
desires to retain the title to his land and prevent its sale, until he
can determine the extent of its oil production.”
“For what length of time?” asked Mason.
“Well,” said the grazier, “I scarcely know. One year might be time
enough, or even less than one year; while, on the other hand, it might
require several years. You see, if I can prevent the land from being
sold, and keep it in my name until the territory is developed, then if
oil is found in paying quantities I can meet all these notes, and if
the land is dry I am no worse off. At any rate, I want to hold on to the
land and see.”
“Are there judgments of record against you?” inquired Mason.
“Not yet,” replied Alshire, “but Farras is preparing to sue on the notes
and rush the sale through. Can I stop him; can I hold the sale off?”
There was anxiety in the grazier's voice.
Randolph Mason began to walk to and fro across the room with an unsteady
nervous stride.
“Easy,” he muttered, “easy as learning to lie.” Then he stopped by the
table and looked flown sharply at the great Alshire.
“Have you two friends,” he asked, “nonresidents of your State, whom you
can trust?”
“Yes,” responded the grazier, “Mr. Van Meter here in New York, and
Morgan Gaston now in Ohio, they will both stand by me.”
“Then,” said Mason, “listen to me, and do as I advise, and the sale of
your property will be as far distant years from to-day as it seems this
afternoon. First make an oil lease for a long term, say thirty years,
to your non-resident friend of Ohio, giving him all the oil privileges,
but, for your own protection in case of the death of the lessee,
incorporate in the instrument a clause permitting the lessor the right
to annul the lease at any time by the payment of a small sum. Have the
instrument show also that the entire compensation for the lease has
been fully paid in advance. Then make another lease renting all your
remaining property rights to your friend Mr. Van Meter of this city.
Have this second lease for a similar term and of similar provisions to
the first, and the entire compensation for it likewise paid in advance.
Then you have but to record the instruments, employ an attorney, and
sit down in the shadow of your house. The hair on your head will have
thinned vastly before the litigation over your complicated affairs
terminates in a final decree of sale.” Rufus Alshire leaned forward
listening eagerly. “But won't Farras sue me,” he asked, “won't he attack
the leases?”
“Certainly,” said Mason, “he will at once do one of two things; either
he will bring an action at law on the notes, or he will attempt to
embrace the whole matter in a chancery suit. If he sues at law, resist
and attempt to fight through the superior courts. When he finally
obtains a judgment at law in your State, he will be compelled to resort
to a suit in chancery for the purpose of selling the land. In either
event he must come finally into a court of chancery and include the
holders of these leases as parties defendant to his action. When this is
done, the non resident lessees are not to appear, and he will be able to
obtain service on them only by an order of publication. You alone will
fight this chancery suit through the lower and superior courts, and just
before a sale of the land is ordered by the court of last resort, one
of the non resident lessees mast appear, and by virtue of the statutory
provision applying to such cases, file his bill of review and open up
the whole matter, enjoin the sale, fight the case over again and again
through the superior court. When this new litigation finally draws
near to a close and the land is again ordered sold, the remaining
non-resident must appear, bring his action in the Circuit Court of the
United States, enjoin the sale, and proceed with his fight.
“By this time,” continued Mason, placing his bony hand on the giant's
shoulder, “there will probably be gray streaks in your beard, and if
you wish to run this litigation on into eternity, you will have only to
produce some collateral heir.”
The huge Alshire looked up at the strange man beside him. “Is all this
possible?” he asked in astonishment.
Randolph Mason did not at once answer; he walked stumblingly across
the room to his chair and sat down by the table. His form was thin and
gaunt, and along the border of his forehead the veins were purple and
swollen. After a time he turned toward the powerful grazier, his face
ugly with a sneer. “To the law,” he said, “all things are possible--even
justice.”
V
ONE morning in the early winter the red roan horse, with his head over
the high fence of his pasture, saw two men standing in the neighboring
meadow contemplating in silence a gigantic derrick. One he immediately
recognized as his master Rufus Alshire, and the other resembled in a
very large degree a certain obnoxious person who on a memorable summer
night had smeared his well kept mane with most disagreeable petroleum.
Presently the grazier spoke. “I judge that it will not now be necessary
for Jerry to invoke the tedium of Federal tribunals, there seems to be
grease enough here to pay everything and wind up the lawsuits.”
The driller looked up at the oil streaming down from the timbers of the
derrick; then he made a mighty angular gesture with his bare right arm.
“By jolly!” he said, “there is money enough in that hole to pay off the
national debt.”