"
"Then I'll withdraw my proposition."
"And present a substitute?"
"No, sir."
"I guess I'll take your note," Cappy said eagerly.
"I thank you for the compliment," Matt laughed; and Cappy, no longer
able to dissemble, laughed with him--and their feud was over.
Consequently, post-mortems being in order, Matt went on: "I feel
pretty sneaky about sticking you with all those bills on the Tillicum
that Morrow & Company defaulted on, just because the law enabled me to
do so--but you did your best to ruin me; you wouldn't have showed me
any pity or consideration."
"Not a dog-goned bit!" Cappy declared firmly. "I was out to bust you
wide open for the good of your immortal soul. I would have taken your
roll away from you, my son, by fair means--or--er--legal, if I could."
He looked up at Matt, with such a smile as he might have applied to a
lovable and well-beloved son. "I hope you've got sporting blood
enough in you to realize I didn't really want your little bank roll,
Matt," he said half pleadingly. "I don't know just why I did
it--except that I'm an old man and I know it; and I hate to be out of
the running. I suppose, just because I'm old, I wanted to take a fall
out of you--you're so young; and--oh, Matt, you do make a scrap so
worth while!
"And, because I've lived longer in this world and fought harder for
what I've got than you'll ever have to fight, I wanted to put about
six feet of hot iron into your soul.
Pages:
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353