24. A Double-Dyed Deceiver

Kid, a murderer, and Thacker, a United States consul, planned to cheat a rich old couple out of their money. How did they plan to do it? Did they succeed in their deception? Who was the double-dyed deceiver? Read the story and find the answers.

It happened in Laredo in a gambling house. The players were sitting at a poker game when a row began over some cards.

A young fellow about Kid's age pulled out his revolver, but just missed Kid's right ear. When Kid's turn came, he shot the young man and ran away.

The young man's friends overtook him at the station. Kid turned and aimed his revolver at them. He was a good shot. Seeing his revolver they stopped, turned and disappeared.

The same afternoon Kid took a train, but at the next station he left it because there were telegraph posts along the line and Kid did not trust electricity. He felt safer on horseback. He knew that the man whom he had shot came from a ranch where the people were vengeful.

There was a store near the station and Kid saw a saddled horse among the trees. He took it and galloped on. After three days he was on the seashore. The same day he sailed on a steamer with a cargo of timber and matches.

Thacker, the United States consul at Buenas Tierras, was not yet drunk. It was only eleven o'clock in the morning and he was never drunk until the middle of the afternoon. So, when he saw Kid standing at the door of the consulate, he was still in a condition to show the hospitality of a representative of a great nation.

"I am sorry," said Kid. "I was told that people usually called on you before going to see the town. I have just come from Texas."

"Glad to see you Mr.—?" said the consul.

"Dalton," said Kid. "But they simply call me Kid in the Rio Grande country."

"My name's Thacker," said the consul. "Take a chair. If you intend to buy land or if you are looking for a concession, I'll be very glad to help you. Besides, they speak Spanish here and you will need an interpreter."

"I am not buying anything," said Kid, "and I speak Spanish much better than English."

"You speak Spanish?" said Thacker thoughtfully.

He looked at Kid in silence.

"You look like a Spaniard, too," he continued, "and you can't be more than twenty or twenty-one. Are you brave?"

"What do you mean?" asked Kid, suddenly rising and coming up to the consul.

"Are you ready to accept any job?" asked Thacker.

"I must tell you," said Kid, "that I took part in a little row in Laredo and killed a man. As I was afraid that his friends would avenge his death, I was obliged to leave the place and come here. So you see that I am ready to take any work."

Thacker got up and closed the door.

"Show me your hand," he said. He took Kid's left hand and examined the back of it very carefully.

"I can do it," he said, "Your hand will heal in a week."

"What do you mean?" asked Kid.

Through the window Thacker pointed to a rich white house standing among tropical trees.

"In that house," said Thacker, "an old gentleman and his wife are waiting for you; they will fill your pockets with money. Old Santos Urique lives there. He owns half the gold mines in the country."

"Are you drunk?" asked Kid.

"Sit down and I'll tell you everything."

"Twelve years ago the old gentleman and his wife lost their only son. He was eight years old. Some Americans, who were looking for gold and who often visited the Uriques, told the boy a lot of wonderful things about the States; and a month later the boy disappeared. It was said that he was seen once in Texas. The Uriques looked for him everywhere, they spent a lot of money, but in vain.

"The mother was quite ill. They say she believes that her son will come back and they have never given up hope. On the back of the boy's left hand was tattooed a flying eagle."

Kid answered nothing.

"I can do it," continued the consul, "and in a week you will have the eagle tattooed on your hand. I'll call old Urique and when he sees that you have the tattoo mark, that you speak Spanish and can tell him about Texas, the parents will be happy. The rest of it is very simple. Old Urique keeps in his house about 100 000 dollars in a safe which a child can open. Get the money, we'll divide it, take a steamer going to Rio Janeiro and let the consulate go to pieces. What do you think of it?"

"I like your plan," said Kid.

In a few days the tattoo on Kid's left hand was ready and the hand healed.

Then the consul wrote the following note to old Urique:

Dear Sir,

I have the pleasure to inform you that I have a guest in my house who arrived from the United States a few days ago. I think that he is your son and that he intended to return to you, but at the last moment his courage left him because he doesn't know how you will receive him.

I remain, dear Sir,

Yours faithfully,

Thomson Thacker

In thirty minutes a landau drove up to the door of the consulate.

A tall man with white hair and a lady dressed in black got out of it. Thacker met them with a bow.

They saw a young man with a sunburnt face standing near a desk.

Donna Urique glanced at his face and his left hand, and crying: "Oh, my son!" she folded Kid in her arms.

A month later Kid came to the consulate in answer to a message from Thacker. He was very well dressed and a big diamond shone on his finger.

"What is the news?" asked Thacker.

"Nothing new," answered Kid.

"It is time to start business. Why don't you get the money? Everybody knows that Urique's safe is full of money."

"Oh, there is a lot of money in the house," said Kid, looking at his diamond. "And my adopted father has shown me where the key of the safe is."

"Well, then, what are you waiting for?" asked Thacker angrily. "Don't forget that I can tell Don Urique and everybody who you really are."

"Listen," said Kid. "When you speak to me, address me as Don Francisco Urique. As to my father's money, let him have it. I don't intend to take it."

"Don't you intend to give me my half then?"

"Of course not," answered Kid, "and I'll tell you why. The first night I was at Don Urique's house, just after I had gone to bed, my new mother came in and tucked in the blanket. 'My dear boy,' she said, and tears dropped from her eyes on my face. I have had very little to do with mothers in my life, but I think that this mother must be kept fooled. She stood it once, but she won't stand it twice. That's why things must be just as they are. And don't forget that my name is Don Francisco Urique."

"I'll tell everybody today who you really are," cried Thacker, red with anger.

Kid took Thacker by the throat with his strong left hand, drew out his revolver with his right hand and aimed the revolver at the consul's mouth.

There came a sound of wheels from outside. Kid put his revolver into his pocket, and holding up his left hand with its back toward the trembling consul said:

"There is one more reason why things must remain as they are. The fellow whom I killed in Laredo had an eagle on his left hand."

At that moment the landau of Don Urique stopped at the door of the consulate.

"Where are you, dear son?" called Donna Urique.

"I am here, dear mother," answered Kid, or, as Thacker has ever since called him, Don Francisco Urique.

From An English Reader

published in Moscow, 1961.