The Land of Strong Men

  CHAPTER XXXVII

  DUPLICATE DEEDS

  Angus entering the ranch house from the rear, was amazed to see Turkeywith his wife and Jean. But when he learned of the runaway he took hisbrother's hand in a hard grip.

  "Go easy!" Turkey objected, rescuing his crushed digits. "You've got nobusiness letting her ride that cayuse. He's a new one on me."

  "It wasn't Doughnuts," Faith exclaimed. "It was that new bay, but Iwon't do it again. But it was worth it to meet Turkey and bring himhome. Now you boys have got to make up. Turkey, tell him what you toldme."

  Turkey told that and more. He told of the conversation he had overheardbetween Garland and Poole.

  "Why, I blamed you for that ditch business," Angus said.

  "I know you did--now; but I didn't know it that night when you came tomy shack."

  Turkey proceeded. He told of seeing Braden take the documents fromFrench's safe, and of how he had obtained them.

  Angus scanned the deeds which Faith handed him, and going to a desk inthe corner found those which French had given Faith. He spread them onthe table and the four bent above them. Faith caught her breath sharply.

  "The description of the land _is_ different!" she cried.

  "Yes, it throws your land further west--all of it. According to thisyour west line would be about where we thought it was--where Frenchoriginally told you it ran."

  "Then--?"

  "Then if these are the original deeds, you own the coal prospect thatBraden is developing."

  "If they are the originals the others must be forgeries."

  "Yes. It's plain enough. The originals were made by Braden and witnessedby French. Somehow they found this coal and then they tried to buy youout. When you wouldn't sell but demanded your deeds, they prepared newones, moving your block east and leaving out the coal lands. That waseasy, because Braden owned land on either side of yours. All they had todo was to sign the new deeds themselves. Where they slipped up was innot destroying the originals. I don't understand that, unless Frenchthought their possession would give him a hold on Braden if he didn'tplay fair with the coal. Braden should have destroyed them when he stolethem from French."

  "But what are we going to do about it?"

  "I had better see Judge Riley."

  "What's the matter with you and me and maybe Dave going up there andstanding up the bunch and running them off?" Turkey suggested. "I'd liketo hold a gun on Garland. I'm going to get him. That was a dirtytrick--"

  "We'll get him. But Braden's the man I'm after. I'll give him a taste ofthe law he's so fond of."

  "I'm thinking of Kathleen," Faith interposed. "If Braden was a forger,so was her father."

  "But you can't let that deprive you of a hill full of coal."

  "No, I didn't mean that. But if there is any way in which it can be keptquiet please take it."

  "That will depend on Braden," Angus replied. "Anyway, I'll see JudgeRiley the first thing to-morrow."

  In the morning they entered Judge Riley's office before the judge hadlighted his first pipe. He listened to Turkey's story, puffing hard,occasionally rumpling his gray mane.

  "I knew it," he said. "I knew that some time Braden would put his footoutside the law. Your potential law-breaker merely waits for anopportunity which he thinks is safe. Braden thought he was safe enough,and he is a pretty cautious individual. It is one thing to be morallysure that he committed forgery and another to prove it. Now, let's seewhat evidence we have to go on."

  He spread out both sets of documents on his desk and studied themintently.

  "Both," he observed after an interval, "are in my opinion actuallysigned by Braden and French--one as grantor and the other as witness. Iknow their signatures very well. The notarial certificate of executionis not material, because it is separate, and could easily have beendetached from the originals and attached to the others."

  "Your theory is that the deeds delivered by French to your wife wereprepared recently. Let us see if we can find anything in the deedsthemselves to corroborate that. They are on identical legal forms, andseem to have been written on the same machine, for the same letters showpoor alignment, and the face of one, the small 'c' appears to have beeninjured. Let me see: I have some old letters of Braden's."

  Rising he took down an old letter file and searched through it, finallyremoving a letter.

  "This, like these deeds, is dated some seven years ago, and was writtenin Braden's office. It exhibits the same peculiarities of type."

  "Well, wouldn't that show that both deeds were drawn seven years ago?"Angus deduced in disappointment, for so far the judge's words were notencouraging.

  "Not as bad as that. It would show merely that both were prepared on amachine owned by Braden seven years ago. Here are other letters fromhim, written on another and presumably more modern machine. He may havethe old one yet. It merely points to careful preparation--painstakingforgery. But Turkey, here, cannot testify positively that Braden wascarrying a machine in the case that night, nor did he see him writeanything on a machine. He cannot identify the machine that he did see."

  "No," Turkey admitted.

  "So that even if we found the old machine in Braden's possession, itwould prove nothing," the judge went on. "Nor can you positivelyidentify the documents you saw Braden abstract from French's safe?"

  "No."

  The judge rumpled his mane and reflected.

  "The writing is slightly fainter in the deeds which we are trying toprove are the more recent. That might go to show either that they werewritten long ago, or recently with a dry or worn ribbon such as mightwell be in an old, discarded machine. But there is not enough differenceto get us anywhere on that line. We can't depend on the testimony ofBraden's stenographer, for it is too long ago. She would probablyidentify both as having been written on or about the dates which theybear, merely by the peculiarities of type of the machine she used then.Her evidence would probably be against us."

  "But take the whole thing," Angus urged. "Take French's attempt to buymy wife out."

  "Unfortunately, you have no evidence to connect Braden with that. Hewould deny all connection under oath, as he did to you. When you set outto prove a case out of the mouth of a hostile witness, you are embarkingon a very doubtful enterprise. The fact is, Braden himself is the onlywitness, and there is nothing so far to contradict the evidence he willundoubtedly give if called."

  "But how can he account for the existence of two sets of deeds?"

  "I don't know," the judge replied, "but he will account for them. Don'tunderestimate him. He's a cunning fox. Suppose I put myself in hisplace. Assume that the documents delivered to your wife by French areforgeries. The originals I should have destroyed, but did not. They arestolen from my safe. I do not know who has them. I may suspect Garland,because of the disappearance of the other paper, but I am not sure. Inany event I must provide against the possibility that they may be usedagainst me. Now what story will hold water? What would be plausible?"

  He drummed his spatulate fingers on his desk, his eyes half closed.

  "My effort," he resumed after a moment's silence, "has been to duplicatethe originals in every detail, to make it appear that the second wereprepared some seven years ago. Then my explanation must be one whichwill naturally account for the preparation of two sets of deeds on orabout the same date. And that can only be because there was some mistakein the first which rendered the preparation of the second necessary.Now, what is the most natural mistake, the most everyday, commonmistake?"

  He paused again.

  "Misdescription!" he announced, "a misdescription of the property, aclerical error in that. And it's so profoundly simple! The instrumentsigned and witnessed carelessly, without comparison; then the discoverythat the land was wrongly described, followed by the preparation of asecond conveyance, and neglect to destroy the first, which of course isvoid both by error and lack of delivery. There you are! That's Braden'sdefense. And the devil of it is, that without evidence to contradict itit's pe
rfectly good."

  "Do you mean he gets away with it?" Turkey exclaimed.

  "On the face of it he does," the judge replied, "but sometimes facesalter. No man can construct evidence without a weak spot somewhere.Leave these papers with me. I'll think the whole thing over again."

  When his clients had gone he refilled his pipe and put his feet on hisdesk. He sat for an hour, motionless, his cold pipe between his teeth.Then once more he scrutinized the deeds carefully, looking at the faultytype. At last he held them to the light and peered at them. Then hebrought his gnarled old fist down.

  "By George!" he muttered, "it's a slim chance, and unprofessional as thedevil, but it's about the only one I see. As matters stand, it would befolly to launch an action. 'Conscience makes cowards.' That's truer thanmost proverbs, and Braden's a rank coward at heart. I'll give him a fewdays to get really nervous, and then I'll try it. It may work--yes, it_may_ work."