Scarcely forty minutes had elapsed when Jones returned and settled with Meldrum, well knowing that the latter had it within his power to defeat the title completely unless his terms were acceded to.
This being my first intimation that Mays was interested with Jones in these lands, I could readily understand why the United States Attorney was so solicitous of my welfare in advising that I be careful and not get myself into trouble, even going so far as to insist that I would do well to let the deal drop altogether. It developed later, in fact, that Mays had connived with Jones while the latter and I were yet partners, to secure these lands and to beat me out of all interest in the deal.
In thinking the matter over. I concluded that I had no just cause for complaint, as it was a "cold deck" proposition throughout. Jones and I had planned to beat the Government in the first place. I played my hand on the square, as between Jones and myself, but when the third man was introduced into the game, he proved to be too much of a "sure thing" dealer for me, "stacked" the cards to suit himself, and won out.
The whole transaction reminds me of a story told by Francis J. Heney, in speaking of Geo. Sorenson and W. N. Jones (the same Jones with whom I had been in partnership), during the trial of the Blue Mountain Forest Reserve case, when he compared these two persons to a couple of gamblers of whom he had heard, and one of whom, according to the story, suggested to the other, that they call on a certain gentleman that evening, who was fond of playing cards, and have a little social game of "draw," and which suggestion, his friend readily assented to. After the game and while on their way home, the gambler who had proposed the visit, said to the other:
"Well, how did you like my friend?"
"I think he is a d——d rascal." was the reply.
"How's that?" responded the other, in astonishment.
"Because he stole three jacks off my knee," was the rejoinder.
And so it was in the "3-7" deal. I had taken occasion to hold out three jacks, thinking to play them for the benefit of Jones and myself, as against anything that the Government might be able to show down, but "sure thing" Mays forced an introduction into the play and stole my three jacks.
My position in relation to the "3-7" deal, as in the case of the man from whom the "three jacks" had been stolen, did not warrant me in making a "roar," as the saying is, but I was determined, if within the range of possibility, to arrange some kind of compromise, or to "split the pot" as it were. With this object in view, I called on Jones and asked him, straight up, where I got off at on the deal. Jones attempted to treat my claim much as he did that of Meldrum on the start, but when I presented to him the fact of his living in a glass house; that the material was extremely brittle and that, in all truth, it required but the throwing of a small stone to destroy the entire structure, my friend Jones was given something to think about. He then told me, as he did Meldrum, that Mays must be consulted before anything could be done, and in this instance, as in the former, he showed up again and when he came was prepared to settle. This settlement took place on the following day, and resulted in Jones assigning over to me the certificates of purchase to a full section, or 640 acres of this same land, and which I accepted as full liquidation of my claim.
Jones was not out of the woods on this deal, however, by any means. It was probably in the neighborhood of two years after receiving the certificates of purchase, when the forty men, who had previously agreed to take up the land for us, got wind of the fact that the tract had been in the market for some time, and had been selected by the State of Oregon, and certificates issued and turned over to Jones. When this became known to them they pooled their issues and employed an attorney in Portland by the name of D. D. Lynch, to investigate the status of their case, with the result that after he had gone to Salem and discov-Page 30
