New FREE e-book: The Old Man and the Widow

New FREE e-book:  The Old Man and the Widow
To Order my E-books click on the Book or "My Book"Tab

Pages

Monday, September 12, 2016

Randal Chimes Chapter 5 - Chapter five "The Cheating Bookkeeper"


Some for You and Some for ME
 
Chapter five  "The Cheating Bookkeeper"

Grandpa said it was time for me to stop fooling around and get down to business and I agreed with him.

Over the next four months he taught me about everything that pertained to the business. I requested the book keeper to give me the books so I could go over them.

He had a fit and accused Grandpa of not trusting him.

Grandpa asked me why I wanted to see the books and I told him it had to be part of the learning process.

It only took me a short time to see the book keeper was stealing from the ranch account. He was taking almost as much as the ranch was keeping. I told grandpa about it and he went wild.

I had to convince him to settle down so we could get some of the money back.

Grandpa knew Jenny’s pa was using the same bookkeeper and he figured he was cheating him as he was doing to grandpa.

He took me to Jenny’s Pa Luke’s ranch and we met with him.  He welcomed us and we went back to his office.

The book keeper was there and so were the books. Luke asked for the books and for him to be able to explain anything we didn’t understand.

After a session of four hours I had everything I needed to know. Luke looked for the book keeper and he wasn’t’ to be found. A search for him was started immediately.

One of the hands said he left in a hurry about an hour ago with his buggy.

Luke said, “Pecos you know the short cut to town don’t you?”

He said, “Yes I sure do.”

“Then bring that man back and let’s see what he has to say about what Randy has found.”

Three hours later Pecos came back with the man in tow.

By this time I had explained to Luke how much the man had pilfered from him. The man denied taking the money and said I didn’t understand book keeping.

Pecos wasn’t in the mood for lying so he said, “Let’s cut this short and get to the truth.”

Luke said, “Okay go ahead and see if he wants to lie to you.”

Pecos grabbed the book keeper by the back of the neck and walked him out to the watering trough. Without saying anything he shoved him under the water and held him there.  After a short time he pulled him out of the water and while the man was trying to clear the water from his lungs Pecos said. “The time under will get longer each time until I finally forget to pull you up.”

The man said, “I’m ready to talk now.”

Pecos said, “No you are ready to lie now, and I want the truth,” and down he went again. True to his word Pecos kept him under a bit longer this time.

The man almost drowned this time and it took him several minutes before he could speak.  He was exhausted but managed to say, “I have the money in a safety deposit box at the bank.”

Pecos said, “Let’s all go get it.”

Luke and grandpa said okay but if he was lying there were watering troughs in town to finish him off.

As they were leaving, I bumped into Jenny, and she turned up her nose at me and I handed her the report from Pinkerton about her boy friend, which showed that he was a fraud bilking young women out of all he could get.

I left with the ranchers to make sure the bookkeeper  returned all he had stolen from them.  As it turned out he was short a thousand, he said he partied on.

Pecos said, “I think he is lying and I can find where he has it stashed away.”

Luke said if you think you can, then go ahead and find it. As Pecos was dragging him to the watering trough the man cried out okay I will tell you where the rest is.

As it turned out he had hid it in a small cave he had found and when he reached in to get it he was bit by a viper and lost his arm as well as suffering great pain.  When he was well enough he was incarcerated for five years.

Both Luke and Grandpa were singing my praises but I told them it was Pecos who deserved the credit and should get a reward.

They agreed and gave him a big reward for what he had done. Pecos said he didn’t know what to do with so much money for he had always lived from month to month ranching.

I told him to put it in the bank and pretend it didn’t exist until he wanted something special and then go buy it. He said that was what he would do that except he wanted a new pair of boots and a new hat right now.

I said, “Then buy what you want and put the rest away for later.”

He wanted me to go with him to the bank and get everything set up proper, after he got his boots and hat.
TO BE CONTINUED




1 comment:

  1. Thank you for sharing your continued story with us here at Tell me a Story. I am glad they caught the cheating bookkeeper.

    ReplyDelete

If you are having trouble making a comment - select anonymous but please add your first name to the comment.