"What is your proposition?" he asked after a moment.

"Before I tell you, I'm going to give you a few pointers on what you're
up against. I don't know how much you know about Old Man Hooper, but
I'll bet there's plenty you _don't_ know about."

I proceeded to tell him something of the old man's methods, from the
"boomerang" to vicarious murder.

"And he gets away with it?" asked Brower when I had finished.

"He certainly does," said I. "Now," I continued, "you may be solid as a
brick church, and your plans may be water-tight, and old Hooper may
kill the fatted four-year-old, for all I know. But if I were you, I
wouldn't go sasshaying all alone out to Hooper's ranch. It's altogether
_too_ blame confiding and innocent."

"If anything happens to me, I've left directions for those contracts to
be recorded," he pointed out. "Old Hooper knows that."

"Oh, sure!" I replied, "just like that! But one day your trustworthy
friend back yonder will get a letter in your well-known hand-write that
will say that all is well and the goose hangs high, that the old man is
a prince and has come through, and that in accordance with the nice,
friendly agreement you have reached he--your friend--will hand over the
contract to a very respectable lawyer herein named, and so forth and so
on, ending with your equally well-known John Hancock."

"Well, that's all right."