“Whut?” asked old Queeder aimlessly, then, recovering himself slightly, began, “I hain’t goin’ tuh sign nuthin’! Nuthin’ ’tall! That’s whut I hain’t! Nuthin’!” He opened and closed his fingers and twisted and craned his neck as though physically there were something very much awry with him. “What’s that?” queried the lawyer incisively, attempting by his tone to overawe him or bring him to his senses, “not sign? What do you mean by saying you won’t sign? You gave an option here for the sum of $100 cash in hand, signed by you and your wife and witnessed by Lester Botts, and now you say you won’t sign! I don’t want to be harsh, but there’s a definite contract entered into here and money passed, and such things can’t be handled in any such light way, Mr. Queeder. This is a contract, a very serious matter before the law, Mr. Queeder, a very serious matter. The law provides a very definite remedy in a case of this kind. Whether you want to sign or not, with this option we have here and what it calls for we can pay over the money before witnesses and enter suit for possession and win it.” “Not when a feller’s never knowed whut he wuz doin’ when he signed,” insisted Dode, who by now, because of his self-interest and the appearance of his father having been misled, was coming round to a more sympathetic or at least friendly attitude. “I’ll not sign nuthin’,” insisted Queeder grimly. “I hain’t a-goin’ tuh be swindled out o’ my prupetty. I never knowed they wuz min’l onto hit, like they is—leastways not whut it wuz wuth—an’ I won’t sign, an’ yuh ain’t a-goin’ tuh make me. Ye’re a-tryin’ tuh get it away from me fur nuthin’, that’s whut ye’re a-tryin’ tuh do. I won’t sign nuthin’!” “I had no idee they wuz min’l onto hit when I signed,” whimpered Mrs. Queeder. “Oh, come, come!” put in Crawford sternly, deciding to deal with this eccentric character and believing that he could overawe him by referring to the secret agreement between them, “don’t forget, Mr. Queeder, that I had a special agreement with you concerning all this.” He was not quite sure now as to what he would have to pay—the two or the eight. “Are you going to keep your bargain with me or not? You want to decide quick now. Which is it?” “Git out!” shouted Queeder, becoming wildly excited and waving his hands and jumping backward. “Yuh swindled me, that’s whutcha done! Yut thort yuh’d git this place fer nothin’. Well, yuh won’t—yuh kain’t. I won’t sign nuthin’. I won’t sign nuthin’.” His eyes were red and wild from too much brooding.