“This bird goes to the Eagle Patrol, New York,” Ned declared.
“Good for you!” shouted Jimmie. “We’ll hang it up in the club room and give you a seat of honor directly under it.”
“I beg your pardon,” Gilroy interrupted, “but if it’s all the same to you, Mr. Bosworth, and to you boys, I’d like to partake of a little refreshment. This mountain air certainly does bring about an appetite!”
“I knew that something was giving me an appetite,” grinned Jimmie, “but I didn’t know what it was!”
“Cripes!” Jack laughed. “Jimmie had just the same kind of an appetite on the Amazon!”
“And Jimmie’s got just the same kind of an appetite now, too!” replied the boy, ladling out a great dish of stew. “I’m going to devour just three portions like this!” he insisted.
“Now, boys,” Mr. Bosworth said after supper was well under way, “I feel obliged to start for New York tomorrow, taking Gilroy with me.”
“Don’t you do it!” cried Jimmie. “We won’t have any fun if Gilroy goes away!”
“And my advice to you,” the lawyer went on, “is to come along with me.”
“Oh, Dad!” cried Jack. “Just because you got your business all in shape you want to drag us off to New York.”
“I’m only giving advice,” Mr. Bosworth replied, with a smile. “You boys can do just as you please.”
“Have you really completed your business here?” asked Ned in a moment.
“Entirely so! You see,” the lawyer went on, “my theory is always to work along the lines of least resistance. I understand, of course, that we could establish our claim to these lands through the courts. I understand, too, that the Hoola Indians who claim title could be electrocuted for the murder of Toombs. That would clear the atmosphere of many complications.”
“But it wouldn’t be right!” Jimmie shouted.
“No, it wouldn’t be right,” Mr. Bosworth admitted. “The Indians really have some rights here which should be respected, and Toombs received only his just deserts. He never had any standing, even in Wall street. He has betrayed every confidence for years, and there is not a soul on earth who will mourn his death.”
“That’s the way I sized him up!” Ned said.
“And so, taking all things into consideration,” Mr. Bosworth went on, “I have decided to give the Indians a fair price for their land—more than enough to keep them in luxury the remainder of their lives—and to employ them to direct the taking out of the gold.”