Adams shook his head. “No, you can’t take the ranch away from me,” he said. “You can’t! That’s my home. That’s the only place me’n Millie has ever lived. Both our kids was born there. Please, there must be some other way out of this rather than forcin’ me to lose my ranch.”
“I’m sorry, I wish I could help you,” Williams said. “But I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do. Please try to understand, my hands are tied.”
“What…what am I going to tell Millie?” Adams asked, barely managing to keep control of his emotions.
Williams drummed his fingers on the table as if in deep thought. Then he ran his hands through his hair. “There is—one—way,” Williams said. “I’m not sure you will want to go along with it.”
“What do you mean I won’t want to go along with it? If there is a way, any way…” Adams’s desperate plea trailed off.
“After all, I suppose that, for you, the most important thing would be to save your ranch, am I right? I mean, it is your home.”
“Yes. I’d do anything to save it.”
“Then I do have an idea. It isn’t something that I want to do, but under the circumstances, I’ll do it for you,” Williams said. “I’ll buy the note from the bank. Then you would owe me, and not the bank.”
“And you would give me an extension?”
Williams chuckled and held out his hands. “No, no, don’t misunderstand. There is no way I could afford to do something like that,” Williams said. “But what I will do is mark the note paid in full in exchange for your cattle.”
“My cattle? How many of my cattle?”
“All of them.”
“What? No, I couldn’t do that. Why, I have two thousand head,” Adams said. “I couldn’t possibly let you have two thousand head of cattle for one thousand dollars.”
“Consider this, Mr. Adams,” Williams said. “The note you signed with the bank was for your ranch and all livestock and improvements. So you are faced with this choice. Let the bank foreclose and lose everything, including your cattle, or settle with me for your cattle, and keep your ranch.”
“I couldn’t possibly do that,” Adams said. Suddenly, he smiled. “But I could sell enough of my cattle to pay the note.”
“No, you can’t do that,” Williams said.
“What do you mean I can’t do that? Of course I can. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.”
“If you sell those cattle, Mr. Adams, you will go to jail.”
“What are you talking about? Why would I go to jail?”
“Remember, your loan note was for the ranch, livestock, and all accoutrements,” Williams said. “That means you have your cattle mortgaged, and there is a law against selling mortgaged property.”
“I—I didn’t know that,” Adams said in a defeated tone.
“Now you do know. So the choice is this, Mr. Adams. Either turn over all your cattle to me, in exchange for a release from debt, or I will be forced to foreclose on your ranch and your cattle.” Gone was the silken, cajoling demeanor in Williams’s voice. He was now speaking in a cold, clipped, and demanding voice.
“I—I suppose when you put it that way, I really have no choice,” Adams said.
Sensing victory, Williams eased up a bit. “Mr. Adams, the truth is, I’ve gone way out on a limb for you on this. I probably shouldn’t have done so, but I’ve already bought the note. It was the only way I could think of to save your ranch.”
“I see,” Adams said.
Williams opened the drawer of his desk and pulled out a paper.
“We can take care of this right now if you want to,” he said. “Sign this paper turning your cattle over to me, and I’ll release the lien on your ranch.”
Williams slid the paper across to Adams, then handed him a pen. Adams held the pen poised over the line for his signature for a moment, but he didn’t sign.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve got two more weeks,” he said.
Williams chuckled. “Mr. Adams, you’ve had two years to settle this debt and you’ve been unable to do so. What makes you think you can do it in two more weeks?”
“I can’t settle in two more weeks,” he said. “But before I do something like this, I need to discuss it with Millie.”
“I see,” Williams said. “And your wife makes all your decisions for you, does she?”
“No, sir. But we do make them together,” Adams replied.
Williams sighed. “All right, Mr. Adams, discuss this with your wife if you must. But make certain she understands all the ramifications of it. Because if you don’t accept this offer before the two weeks are up, the deal will be taken off the table. I’m afraid then that I will be forced to exercise every clause of the loan agreement. And that means, Mr. Adams, that you will not only forfeit your cattle, you will lose your ranch as well.”
“Yes, sir, I understand,” Adams said. “And I appreciate what you are doing for me, Mr. Williams, really I do. It’s just that I’m going to have to bring my wife around.”
