"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?"
"Yes. Now come in here and we'll talk over what's best to do. We must get that paper away from Dick Hamilton."