"I am not interest in
pieces of paper. I do not accep' checks. Also I am no damn fool! You sink I
sink you bring back two 'ondred sousand dollar? Two 'ondred sousand
soldier, mebbe! But two 'ondred sousand dollar! Pah!" and he made a gesture
of disgust, and crushed the paper in his hand and let it fall on the floor
under the table.
"Then what's the idea of this auction in the first place?" Pell asked, mad
through and through that they had been tricked by this Mexican fool.
Lopez leaned back on the table. "To find out if you gentlemen was rich
enough to make it worth my w'ile to take you wiz me and 'old you for
ransom." His eyes half closed. He was enjoying their discomfiture. There
was nothing he liked more than to spring a surprise like this.
Pell and Hardy looked at each other, real terror in their faces now.
"Ransom!" the former cried.
"It is quite to be seen zat you are," the bandit grinned. "Zis, if I may
speak so, 'as been a lucky day for me!"
Pell turned to both Hardy and Lopez, and addressed them: "Bluffing, were
you?"
Lopez was quick to retort: "And was you bluffing when you bidded ze two
'ondred sousand dollars?"
Hardy was agitated. "I'm afraid we were a bit hasty," he tried to explain
things away.
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