CHAPTER XXXI.
MR. JONES BUYS THE OUTFIT.

The Americans came tumbling out of their tents just as Mr. Bruce, with his companions, rode into camp.

"No questions, no questions, until we have had something to eat," protested the lawyer good-humoredly, as our little party crowded around him. "We haven't had a bite to eat since yesterday noon. Just fill us up with something hot and tasty and we'll talk on anything you name. I am not going to say another word on an empty stomach, except to the sheriff here, and that only to tell him that I've got an order from the judge revoking that warrant he's got for all of you fellows, and that he might as well trot right back to town."

"Not before breakfast," protested the officer vigorously.

"As these boys' counsel, I advise them not to feed either you or your men," said the lawyer, with twinkling eyes. "They ought to punish you by sitting you in the corner and letting you watch the rest of us eat."

"That would be inhuman," declared the sheriff. "Um, man, just smell those fish frying and that coffee steaming."

At this moment Chris announced breakfast and all filed in to where the little negro had the table filled with fried fish, quail, ham and eggs, potatoes, hot corn bread and coffee. Silence reigned supreme as the hungry lawyer and his companions attacked the savory food. When at last they had satisfied their gnawing appetites the lawyer turned to the sheriff. "You can run along home now," he said. "Here's that paper I spoke about to show that everything's all right and proper. You can leave the boys with me now."

"I'm not sure but that I ought to take charge of their pocketbooks for them if you are going to remain here," said the sheriff, with a laugh.

"I'll promise that their pockets will be fuller when I leave them than they are now," said Mr. Bruce.

"All right, I'll go then," agreed the sheriff, with a grin. "So long, boys, and the best of luck to you."

"That's a true-blue old chap," remarked the lawyer, as the sheriff departed. "We joke pretty rough with each other sometimes, but I like him and I think he likes me."

"He is good and kind," Charley agreed. "Do you feel able to talk business now?"

Mr. Bruce lit a cigar and puffed in dreamy content for a few minutes before replying.

"You know my friend Mr. Jones here, I believe?" he said, with an airy wave of the hand toward the little man whose face at that moment looked as though he had just taken a dose of castor oil.

"We have seen him before," said Charley coldly.

"Mr. Jones is a remarkable man, a very remarkable man," said the lawyer, and the lad thought he could detect a mocking note in Mr. Bruce's voice as he continued. "Like many other remarkable men, however, Mr. Jones has not until the present time been able to gratify his greatest desire and ambition. Is that not correct, Jones?"

"Go on. You're doing the talking," said the little man grimly.

"That's so, I am," said Mr. Bruce, with the air of one who had just been informed of a startling fact. "You're a man of unusual observation and intelligence, Jones. Well, gentlemen, even in childhood Mr. Jones gave evidence of what was to be his ruling passion in life. Before he had reached the age of five, he nearly lost a finger in trying to discover how his mother's clothes-wringer worked. Your mother did have a clothes-wringer, didn't she, Jones?"

"That was before the clothes-wringers came into use," growled the little man testily. "Can't you come to the point?"

"Dear me, so it was," agreed the lawyer. "I have got my facts all mixed some way. Well, at the age of six, Mr. Jones was licked by his father for taking the family lawn-mower to pieces to discover what made it cut grass."

"We didn't have any lawn or lawn-mower," declared the little man mildly.

"At the age of seven Mr. Jones used to sit for hours by the railroad track wondering what made the locomotive's wheels go round. At ten he ruined a bicycle, a present from an uncle, by taking it to pieces trying to discover why it would keep upright when moving but would fall down when stationary."

The boys grinned, and the little man squirmed uneasily in his seat.

"Gentlemen, you have no doubt discovered by now what Mr. Jones' ruling passion was, and is, namely, an almost overwhelming love of machinery. I have not sketched out his entire life, but I have not the slightest doubt that this passion displayed so early in life grew with the passing years until it became a mania. I believe that, when Mr. Jones came to own an automobile, the happiest hours of his life were those spent under the machine with a monkey-wrench in his hand and his clothes covered with grease."

"Can't you come to the point?" demanded the little man irritably.

"In just a minute, Jones," said the lawyer gently. "Now, gentlemen, I have related all this to show you how natural it was when Mr. Jones first laid eyes on your magnificent machine he became possessed of the desire to own it. His whole heart and every fiber of his being yearned to possess that marvel of cog-wheels, levers, and power. The desire grew so upon him that he could not sleep at nights, and at last he came to me and begged me to see if you would not sell out to him. I warned him that you loved your work, and that nothing but a very high price would tempt you to give it up, but that has not diminished his ardor, and so I brought him out here to see what could be done in the matter."

The lads' hearts beat high with hope. Here was a way out of their difficulties they had never dreamed of. They managed to keep their delight out of their faces, however, for they realized that the lawyer was playing a deep game, which they did not understand.

"I am afraid that you will set an unreasonable price on your outfit," said Mr. Bruce, "so I suggest if you will entertain a proposition to sell, that you let me conduct the negotiations. I would hate to have Mr. Jones pay more for the machine than it is worth to him."

The little man winced visibly and shifted uneasily in his chair.

"We would sell, if we could get a proper price," Charley said slowly. "We are willing to leave the matter in your hands."

"Good," said the lawyer. "Now we can get down to business. Let's see; the machine cost $12,000 laid down at Jupiter, I believe."

"I'll buy it for that," said the little man promptly, while our chums held their breath.

"Not so fast," said the lawyer. "I'm not setting a price yet. I'm just figuring up things. Twelve thousand dollars was the price at Jupiter, but it cost a lot more to set it up and get it on the ground to work; then, there's the camp outfit, mules, truck, etc. The whole thing should be worth at least $18,000."

"I'll take it at that," said Mr. Jones quickly.

"Don't be so hasty," reproved the lawyer. "I am not half through my figuring yet. I believe the lads here have done a lot of work which they haven't been paid for yet."

"About $2,000 worth," Charley said; "then there is $1,700 coming on work that Murphy did."

"That makes $3,700," said the lawyer with satisfaction.

"It's highway robbery!" exclaimed the little man excitedly.

"We haven't counted in the good will of the business yet, nor the mental anguish my clients have suffered from troubles caused by enemies to this road-building. I think $25,000 would be a fair selling price."

"It's blackmail!" shouted the little man. "It's nothing but pure blackmail."

"Oh, no," said Mr. Bruce calmly. "You know you don't have to buy unless you want to. But I haven't finished yet. The buyer would have to keep on all the present crew, if they wish to stay. The sick ones would have to be well cared for, and their wages go on just the same as if they were at work. He would have to rebuild all the bridges destroyed between here and Jupiter, and, lastly, he would have to pay to Willie John, the Seminole, whose son was killed while working for the company, the sum of $5.00 a week for life. That's my proposition for my clients. Of course, if you do not want to accept it, Mr. Jones, you do not have to do so."

For a few minutes silence reigned in the tent. Then the little man, with a groan, pulled out his checkbook. "I give up," he said. "You've got me where I can't do otherwise."

"Sensible man," approved the lawyer. "Now, gentlemen, will you please call in your engineers and teamster? I've got some papers I want all hands to sign." The rest of the Americans were quickly assembled in the tent, and the paper signed, after which Mr. Jones handed the lawyer a check for $25,000 and received the papers in exchange.

"Do you know, Mr. Jones," said the lawyer, as he held the check in his hand, "this road building could have been stopped long ago if its enemies had been smart enough to do one little thing?"

"What was that?" inquired the little man, with a display of interest.

"Pull up and destroy the surveyors' stakes," said Mr. Bruce, smiling.

Chagrin swept over the little man's face. "I guess I am beginning to get old and feeble-minded," he said humbly.

"Not too old but to be watched, and carefully, too," said the lawyer. "Gentlemen, I think Mr. Jones would like to retire and rest up a bit, after his hard ride. If you could place a tent at his disposal, it would be a great favor. I would suggest that a few men be placed around the tent until one of you can ride in and get this check cashed."

"Think I would stop payment on it?" growled Mr. Jones.

"You might, you know," said the lawyer quietly.

So Mr. Jones was escorted to a tent, and a guard of Spaniards placed around it.

Walter offered to ride in on the little man's pony to get the check cashed and the money placed to their credit in the bank. Charley would have liked to have made the trip himself, but his arm was paining him so intensely that he decided to remain behind. Soon after breakfast Walter rode away on his errand.

"I am thoroughly bewildered," Charley said to Mr. Bruce. "I don't see how you forced Jones to buy us out at such an enormous price, and I do not see any solution of our mystery. It is still a mystery."

"Same here," agreed Captain Westfield. "I must own up, I am as curious as a woman about it."

"I am willing to explain now," said Mr. Bruce, with a smile. "It's a very simple affair, after all."

CHAPTER XXXII.
THE MYSTERY SOLVED.

Mr. Bruce paused before beginning his story. "I take it that you are well satisfied with the settlement you have made with Jones?" he asked.

"More than satisfied—delighted," said Charley, at which sentiment Captain Westfield nodded his head vigorously.

"Very well," said the lawyer. "I am glad of that, for I must confess I have carried things with a pretty high hand in this matter. I am almost afraid to tell you the whole truth now, for you may condemn me for the settlement I have made of your affairs after I tell you everything, but I have acted for what I thought was your best interests all the way through."

"We believe that," said Charley simply. "But for you we would have lost out completely. We would not ask for particulars if it were not that the mystery of the whole business still puzzles us."

"And yet it's a simple thing," said the lawyer. "You gave me nearly all the clews to it that day you called at my office in Palm Beach. You told me of all the efforts that had been made to hold up your work. You told me about the man Jones, and what the agent at Jupiter had told you about his getting cipher telegrams from the state capital and New York, and you also showed me a newspaper clipping, telling of the efforts of a big company to get free from the State of Florida a big grant of land between Indiantown and the jungle. Why, your mystery was nearly all solved in just what you told me that day."

"I don't see how," said Charley bewildered.

"The connection was plain enough," said Mr. Bruce, with a smile. "It was a big New York company that wanted to get the land for nothing. Jones was getting mysterious messages from New York and from the state capital. You were almost certain that Jones was the one back of all your troubles. Well, the deductions from all those facts were simple enough. Jones was evidently the agent for the New York company. Jones was not trying to kill any of you or to break up the machine. He was simply trying to hold up and delay the building of the road. Why did he want to hold up your work, you will ask. Well, the answer is contained in that newspaper clipping. The legislature will not meet until next month, when they will likely give the land grant to the company. The inference was plain, Jones' company wanted to have the road built, but not before they got the land from the state."

"But why?" persisted Charley, still puzzled.

"That's the question that puzzled me," smiled the lawyer. "It was what brought me out here the first time to look over the ground, and I found that you were carrying the answer around without knowing it. You were like Jones was about the surveyors' stakes. It was such a little thing that you never thought it of any importance."

"Go on," said Charley, still mystified.

"Those bits of rock you had in your game bag were phosphate at the highest grade," said the lawyer, with a smile. "The company was asking the state to give them millions of dollars' worth of phosphate for nothing, trusting to the state's ignorance of the value of the land."

"I see," said Charley excitedly, "they wanted to hold the machine back from digging through that land until they got the grant from the state. They reasoned that, when the shovel began to throw out that stuff, someone would be sure to recognize it, and the news would leak out, destroying their chances of getting millions of dollars for nothing."

"That's about the size of it," Mr. Bruce admitted.

"But I still don't see how you made Jones buy our machine at such an enormous price," said the lad.

"I am rather proud of that stroke," admitted the lawyer. "Perhaps my method was not entirely ethical, but, as a lawyer, I owed a duty to you, my clients, before any abstract duty to the state. Once I got the lay of things, I began to study out how I could turn my discoveries to your advantage. Of course, I could have made public the discovery of the phosphate and the grant would not be made, but that would not repay you fellows for your losses. So I hit upon a scheme which was simple but effective. Do you remember I had you all sign some papers the first time I came out here?"

"Yes," said Charley, "and I have often wondered what they were."

"Each one has a homestead entry on 160 acres of that phosphate land. The whole of them just about covered the land for which the company was asking a grant. I got those entries all filed in the state land office, and that put an end to the grant question, and it brought Jones to my office almost foaming at the mouth, and ready to make almost any kind of terms. That is how I was able to make him buy your machine at a big price and assume your indebtedness. The papers you all signed to-day were a bill of sale and the relinquishment of your homestead claims. They leave the phosphate land open to grant again, if the state sees fit."

"It looks to me," observed Captain Westfield, "that we have given up millions of dollars to secure thousands."

"That's one way of looking at it," replied the lawyer dryly. "But let us see the other side. If you held that land you would have to live on it for four years before the state would give you title to it. You would have to build a railroad to the coast to get your phosphate out to market, and you would have to finish up the county road you are building, which would be a losing proposition from now on. In other words, it would take four years of your time, and about $300,000 of capital before you would get anything out of the phosphate."

"You're right," Charley agreed. "The homesteads would have just been white elephants on our hands. There is one feature about our settlement with Jones, however, that does not seem exactly right to me. The law ought to punish him for the killing of that Indian boy."

"That was the independent act of the gunmen, not Jones' act," said the lawyer. "Jones gave them orders not to hurt any of you, but just to frighten you off the job. He was away in town when the shooting was done. Of course, he is responsible, in a way, for the gunmen were his agents. He brought them out here. But how can it be proved against him? The gunmen are all dead, and, while we know Jones was responsible for your troubles, we would have a hard job proving it, for he has kept in the dark and covered up his tracks pretty well."

"You're right," the lad admitted, "and I for one am well satisfied with the way you have handled things. You have done the wisest thing all the way through. We are lucky to get out of the business so well off."

"You certainly are," agreed Mr. Bruce decidedly. "There is one thing I have not told you about yet, which will make you still gladder that you are out of the business."

"What is it?" Captain Westfield asked.

"The county's road fund is exhausted," replied the lawyer. "You would have had to wait until the taxes are collected next year before you could have gotten any money for your road work."

"Whew!" Charley whistled. "Then Jones has bought $3,700 worth of bad debts?"

The lawyer chuckled. "Yes, and he knows it. He's a pretty sore man just now. But you needn't waste any sympathy on him. His company is a rich one and can afford to wait a year for their road money. The road will benefit them more than anyone else, anyway. Well, that's all the story, gentlemen, and, if you don't mind, I will lie down and rest a while. I am not used to horseback riding, and I'm just one big ache now. Jones and I are going to stay out here with you until your chum gets back. I want to do a little hunting while I'm waiting, and I would like to get a look at that old Spanish fort you told me about."

"We can go out there to-morrow, and hunt on the way," Charley said, as he showed Mr. Bruce to his own tent. "I will send Willie John out to Indiantown to-day, and have him bring back ponies for all hands. We will make a general holiday and party of it."

Early next morning they all started out on the proposed trip. Even Mr. Jones was released from his tent and permitted to accompany the party. All carried guns and supplies, and Charley also carried a lantern and a supply of candles, for he was determined to search closely the hole in which Walter had found the gold and jewels.

Two days later the party returned, tired but happy, their ponies loaded with game. Charley also bore a second cylinder the same as the one Walter had found.

Soon after they arrived Walter rode into camp with the happy news that the check was cashed and the money placed to their credit in the bank.

The next morning our little party packed up their belongings and bid good-by to the engineers and Spaniards, who had decided to stick by the job. To each of the Spaniards they gave a $10 bill, and to the engineers $20 each as a parting gift out of the abundance they had made. Both the laborers and engineers were sorry to see them go, and, for their part, the boys and the captain disliked the parting, for they had grown quite attached to their willing helpers.

"Drop us a line once in a while," Charley told them, in parting. "We may get into some business again where we will need men, and I do not know where we could get better ones."

Mr. Jones had granted them the use of the mules and wagon with the teamster to bring the rig back, and with their things stowed in the wagon our little party took their departure for Jupiter. As Mr. Bruce had ridden out on one of the mules he accompanied them back in the wagon.

"We are coming out of this business in fine shape," Charley said, with satisfaction. "When the jewelry is disposed of we will have over $7,000 apiece."

"Where are you going from here?" Mr. Bruce inquired; "and what are your plans for the future?"

The chums looked blankly at each other. "Why, we haven't even decided where we are going," Walter gasped.

"Back to our old camping-place on the point for me," said Captain Westfield decidedly. "I'm sick for a breath of sweet, salt air once more. While we are resting up we can decide what we are going to do next." And so it was agreed.

At Jupiter our little party bid good-by to Mr. Bruce and Mr. Jones, who returned to Palm Beach on the first train. Before parting, Mr. Bruce drew Charley to one side. "I am going to always regard you and your chum as my mascots," he said. "I am ashamed to confess it, but yours was the first and only case I have had since I was admitted to the bar. It is always hard for a young lawyer to get a start, and it is especially so in this state. You have broken the ice for me, and now Mr. Jones has retained me as counsel for his company, at a salary of $3,000 per year."

"Good," said Charley heartily. "I congratulate Jones on having sense enough to know that he could not get a better attorney."

The friendly station agent was delighted to see the little party back again, and pleased to learn that they had done so well in their unpromising venture. As he had just been granted a short vacation, the boys invited him to camp out with them for a while, an invitation which he was quick to accept.

And now all five of them are camped on that sand point again, fishing, swimming, boating, getting oysters and clams, hunting turtle eggs, and having a good time generally. They are having lots of fun, but, as Captain Westfield remarked the other day: "I'll bet it won't be two weeks before you lads will get tired of this, and will want to get out and look for more trouble," to which Chris sighed:

"Golly, I hopes not. Dis nigger is sho' enjoying dis sunshine and fishin'."