Part 72 (1/2)
The Judge paused and glanced round the room. Then his cold eyes returned to the face of Luke Tweezy who was beginning to look extremely wretched.
”Underneath the signature of Dale,” continued the Judge, ”somebody has copied that signature some fifty or sixty times. I wonder why.”
”I dunno anything about it,” Luke Tweezy denied, feebly.
”We'll come back to that,” the Judge observed, softly. ”G'on, Racey.”
”I figure,” said Racey, ”that they'd hatched that forgery some while before Dale was killed. The killing made it easier to put it on record.”
”Looks that way,” nodded the Judge.
”Lookit here,” boomed Jack Harpe, ”you ain't got any right to judge us thisaway. We ain't on trial.”
”Sh.o.r.e you ain't,” a.s.serted the Judge. ”I always said you wasn't. This here is just a talk, a friendly talk. No trial about it.”
”Here's another letter, Judge,” said Racey Dawson.
The Judge read the other letter, and again fixed Luke Tweezy with his eye.
”This ain't a letter exactly,” said Judge Dolan. ”It's a quadruplicate copy of an agreement between Lanpher of the 88 ranch, Jacob Pooley of Piegan City, and Luke Tweezy of Marysville, parties of the first part, and Jack Harpe, party of the second part, to buy or otherwise obtain possession of the ranch of William Dale, in the northeast corner of which property is located an abandoned mine tunnel in which Jack Harpe, the party of the second part, has discovered a gold-bearing lode.”
”A mine!” muttered Swing Tunstall. ”A gold mine! And I thought they wanted it for a ranch.”
”So did I,” Racey nodded.
”I know that mine,” said Jake Rule. ”Silvertip Ransom and Long Oscar drove the tunnel, done the necessary labour, got their patent, and sold out when they couldn't get day wages to old Dale for one pony and a jack. But Dale never worked it. A payin' lode! h.e.l.l! Who'd 'a'
thought it?”
”Old Salt an' Tom Loudon got a couple o' claims on the other side of the ridge from Dale's mine,” put in Kansas Casey. ”They bought 'em off of Slippery Wilson and his wife. Them claims oughta be right valuable now.”
”They are,” nodded Judge Dolan. ”The agreement goes on to say that Jack Harpe found gold-bearing lodes in both of Slippery's old tunnels, that these claims will be properly relocated and registered--I guess that's where Jakey Pooley come in--and all three mines will be worked by a company made up of these four men, each man to receive one quarter of the profits. This agreement is signed by Jack Harpe, Simon Lanpher, and Jacob Pooley.”
”And after Pooley was arrested,” contributed Racey Dawson, ”the Piegan City marshal went through his safe and found the original of this agreement signed by Tweezy, Lanpher, and Harpe.”
Luke Tweezy held up his hand. ”One moment,” said he. ”Where was the agreement signed by Harpe, Pooley, and Lanpher found?”
”In yore safe,” replied Racey Dawson.
”Did you find it there?”
”Yep.”
”What were you doing at my safe?”
”Now don't get excited, Luke. I happened to be in the neighbourhood of yore house in Marysville about a month ago when I noticed one of yore back windows open. I snooped in and there was Jack Harpe working on yore combination with Jakey Pooley watchin' him. Jack Harpe was the boy who opened the safe.... Huh? Sh.o.r.e, I know him and Jakey Pooley sicked posses on my trail. Why not? They hadda cover their own tracks, didn't they? But that ain't the point. What I can't help wondering is why Harpe and Pooley was fussin' with the safe in the first place.
What do you guess, Luke?”