Dick Hamilton's Touring Car; Or, A Young Millionaire's Race For A Fortune
John Stuart Mill · en
"I guess I can get on their trail, all right," said the lawyer's
henchman. "If it's a big touring car, as you describe, it ought to be
pretty conspicuous. Folks will notice it and I can make inquiries as I
go along."
"Yes, but keep your wits about you. Don't let them suspect, for they are
sharp lads, I take it."
"Oh, I'll play foxy, all right. I'll hang back for a few days and watch
my chance."
"But don't delay too long," cautioned Uncle Ezra. "Automobile hire is
expensive, and I'm not as rich as Mortimer Hamilton. Don't go wastin' my
money."
"Well, I'm not going to starve on the trip," laughed the man. "I've got
to live decently if I'm to pose as a touring autoist."
"Oh, dear!" groaned Uncle Ezra. "This is going to cost a pile of
money--a dreadful pile!"
"But you're going to make a lot out of it!" insisted the shyster lawyer.
"Maybe--maybe," assented the old man. "And say," he went on to Morton,
"you'll get that paper away from him. I know he has some sort of a paper
to file, to cheat me out of my hard-earned money. I was sharp enough to
find that out, though he and his father think they fooled me. But I was
too much for 'em--I was so--ha! ha!" and he chuckled so that he went
into a coughing fit, and had to be thumped on the back to bring his
breath into his lungs again.
"You--you'll get that paper; won't you?" he pleaded.
"Sure I will," declared Jake Morton. "And they won't know I have it
until it's too late to file it."
"Good!" exclaimed Uncle Ezra. "And maybe, while you are at it, you could
get that auto away from my nephew, or wreck it, or something like that."
"Good land, Mr. Larabee! You don't mean that; do you?" cried Mr. Black.
"Wreck your nephew's auto?"
"Oh, not with him in it, of course. But if it could be disabled some
way, maybe he'd desert it, and we could get it, and fix it up and sell
it. I might get enough out of it to pay for the expenses of this trip,
for it's goin' to cost a lot--a dreadful lot."
"I wouldn't advise you to try that," said the lawyer, significantly.
"We're taking enough chances as it is. You don't want to make yourself
criminally liable; do you?"
"Oh, my good land, no! Sakes alive! No! no!" cried Uncle Ezra. "I've
always kept within the law. We ain't goin' to do nothin' unlawful; are
we?" and he gazed anxiously at the lawyer.
"Oh, no. I'm not any too fond, myself, of overstepping the law. But I'll
take all it allows!" he declared, thrusting out a lean and claw-like
hand.
"Oh, so will I!" exclaimed Uncle Ezra. "All the law allows--yes; all the
law allows! Ha! ha! I guess you'll find, Nephew Richard," he went on,
"that two of us can play at that little game you started. Two of us;
yes-um! We'll see who wins out! Ha! ha!" and, chuckling in a cackling
sort of voice, Mr. Larabee left the lawyer's office, while Mr. Black and
his henchman looked at each other.
"What do you think of him?" asked Mr. Black.
"I don't like to think. But, as long as he pays our price, we'll do his
work; eh?"