So you pay me three
thousand dollars or leave your machine here as security."
"That's the game!" whispered Ned. "There's some plot here.
They want to get possession of your tank, Tom, and they've
seized on this chance to do it."
"I believe you," agreed the young inventor. "Well, they'll
find that two can play at that game. Mr. Kanker," he went
on, "it is out of the question to claim your barn is worth
three thousand dollars."
"Oh, is it?" sneered the farmer. "Well, I didn't ask you
to come here and make kindling wood of it! That was your
doings, and you've had your fun out of it. Now you can pay
the piper, and I'm here to make you pay!" And he brought the
gun around in a menacing manner.
"He's right, in a way," said Ned to his chum. "We should
have secured his permission first. He's got us in a corner,
and almost any jury of farmers around here, after they heard
the story of the smashed barn, would give him heavy damages.
It isn't so much that the barn is worth that as it is his
property rights that we've violated. A farmer's barn is his
castle, so to speak.
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