“I don’t know—but it seems to me that a thousand dollars should be the outside figure. What do you think, Baker?”

“Five hundred is my idea, but I wouldn’t think of goin’ above what you say.”

“Why,” said the surprised Herbert, “I had fixed five thousand as the limit, not knowing but that I might exceed that.”

“Don’t think of it.”

“Five thousand dollars,” repeated old Eph, with a low whistle, 杭州男士养生spafor the sum to him was a prodigious fortune.

“Well, Eph can figure as best he can, but I will agree that that sum shall be paid, if Rickard will take nothing less.”

“How are you goin’ to pay it? What are the tarms?” asked the trapper, who knew nothing about the forms of “exchange,” as it was proper to term the 杭州足浴论坛 business in view.

“You can say to him that, if he will send Nick and his horse back to us unharmed, I will give him a draft on Mr. Lord in San Antonio for whatever sum you agree upon. He will understand that. I have the blanks with me, and can fill them in with pencil,[252] which is as legal as ink. Then all he has to do is to hand the paper to Mr. Lord, who will give him the money without question. I will let him have another piece of writing which will insure that.”

It was all a mystery to the old trapper, who had never seen 杭州水疗桑拿 anything of the kind, and perhaps there would be more difficulty in the way than the hopeful Herbert believed, but it was the best that offered, and since Rickard must, of necessity, be compelled to trust the others to a certain extent, he was not likely to propose other terms.

The matter was made clear, so far 杭州桑拿夜生活论坛 as could be done, to Eph, who, to insure he was right, repeated his instructions until they were pronounced correct by the others. Strubell, having some education himself, helped to force the bit of knowledge into his brain.

“S’pose he says he won’t do it for five thousand, but wants six, or seven, or more—what then?”杭州品茶夜网 asked Eph.

“Make the best bargain you can; I am willing you should go up to six, seven—yes, ten thousand,” added Herbert, who felt in that[253] moment that there was nothing too much for him to do for the best 杭州不正规洗脚店里面什么样 friend he had in the world.

“Are you crazy?” asked the amazed Strubell. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m in earnest,” was the resolute reply of the youth, who shuddered at the thought that a little haggling

at the crisis might bring about the death of Nick Ribsam.

“Well,” said the Texan, “since you talk that 杭州水磨q微信 way, you can set it down as certain that Bell Rickard will turn Nick over in a hurry.”

“Yas,” added old Eph, “and go into the bus’ness of stealin’ younkers instead of hosses, for it will pay him much bigger.”

“But there’s one thing you can work in,” remarked Lattin, “that is, that he won’t have any trouble in gettin’ 杭州夜网桑拿按摩论坛 any sum up to five thousand, but when you go above that, there’s sure to be difficulty and he may lose the whole thing.”