Mr. Hawkins shrugged his shoulders and said: "Well, Mr. Thurston, judging from this inventory before me, you certainly hung up a most generous bait."
"I didn't stop to think--that's all there is to be said. All these details hadn't been worked out into cold figures at the time I gave the option. When these men were here I just wanted to wheedle them into a bargain which would leave a cool $100,000 in my hands. I never for one moment believed they could make the million-dollar payment, although, by God, I begin to realize the danger of their doing so now."
The lawyer looked up in silent surprise. Thurston continued:
"Of course I should have had this detailed valuation made before I went into the deal. Up to the time I read that inventory I had no real idea of the increased value of the property and what was on it. Oh, you may shake your head; I'm not a good business man--never cared a damn for business--and I know quite well I haven't given enough attention to the ranch. You see I have been living mostly in the East, for good reasons. I don't like it here at all--I've never felt safe in California," and he glanced nervously at the window of the room, as if some enemy were lurking there.
Mr. Hawkins once more reached for the inventory, and carefully examined the figures. Finally he said: "Pardon me, Mr. Thurston, for the observation. But you should have sent for me _before_ the option was signed, if you did not really intend to carry out its terms. I find that you have twenty-six thousand head of cattle, and you say that the price of cattle is very high just now--that the whole herd ought to average forty dollars a head. This item alone makes one million and forty thousand dollars, or, in other words, if they exercise the option and pay you the first million dollars, they will have forty thousand dollars more than the payment which they make at that time." The lawyer pencilled down the figures while he spoke.
Ben Thurston had been listening with a gloomy look on his brow. But when he saw the figures translated into dollars he fairly bounced from his chair, walked rapidly up and down the room, and then, coming to a sudden halt, shouted: "By God, that's where they got me again. I see it all now; these fellows were a damned sight too smart for me. Well, Hawkins, you are my attorney. I don't want to go on with this deal, even if they are able to dig up the money."