Chapter 2 two

Salt Dinger.Powers drove ahead in a battered, unpainted 1930 pickup truck, Perry.Mason's car followed at thirty miles an hour.They are in St.Roberto made a right turn outside the urban area. The car in front started to climb the hill after making a sharp turn. Looks like he's trying to give us a spin in the upscale neighborhood.Della.Streeter said. Mason nodded. He turned his eyes away from the road, and glanced at the endless blue ocean in the distance below the hillside. The waves slowly rushed to the shore, and the palms cast shadows on the white sandy beach that was dazzling in the sun.

The road winds around sun-drenched hills dotted with country houses of the rich.Mason could clearly see the small town of St.Roberto reflected a blinding white light in the sun. Why did he bring us here?Della.Streeter asked, of course he couldn't be talking, Yan Dinger's car suddenly turned to the side of the road and stopped beside a whitewashed wall. The classic car panted, stumbled, rattled, and slammed into the ground. Mason smiled and said: He really lives here, and he is opening the door. Della.Streeter watched Yan Dinger use a key to open a door decorated with iron grilles.

Salt Dinger.Powers got back in the car and restarted his wreck.Mason's car followed suit. The whole house is six acres in size, and the value of the land here is measured in inches.The spacious Spanish-style small building is painted white, and the deliberately laid red tiles complement the environment.The whole house is located high on the sloping ground, the carefully decorated steps on the ground look exquisite, and the paths, stone chairs, and fish ponds seem to be just casual embellishments.The high whitewashed walls give the whole house a secluded atmosphere. In a corner of the yard, desert plants clearly show strange outlines against the white wall. There are cactus, Mexican three-toothed laria and large-leaved cactus.

Della.Streeter marveled at the sight of the here and now.What unfolded before them was a canvas painted in blues, whites, and delightful greens. This is Banning.Clark's house?Mason asked Yan Dinger.Yan Dinger was climbing out of his broken car. Here it is. A beautiful house. He doesn't live in it. I thought you were going to say he lives here. No. Sorry, I think you misunderstood my words.I asked if this was his home. Yes.But he doesn't live in the house and I pulled him out.We camped out there in the cactus over there.See that smoke rising?It looks like he's cooking.Like I told you, he's always home and it would stop his heart.No, I took him out.

He was too weak to wander the desert anymore, and the doctor said he couldn't even climb the stairs.I'm helping him recover, and now he's better than he was last week, and he's better last week than he was last month. You eat and sleep on the ground over there? Well, yes. So who lives in the house? some people. who? I asked Banning to tell you these things.Come, let's go see him. They walked along a path to a corner of the yard, which was a garden covered with sandy soil and full of cacti.The cacti here look amazingly delicate, and some thornless cacti that grow to a height of more than ten feet build a windbreak wall for the garden.

A six-foot wall of colorful stones encloses the cactus garden. These are all stones from desert mines.Yan Dinger explained that before Banning had a heart attack, he built the wall here when he was free.I brought the stone here. Mason inspected these stones of various colors and said: Did you separate the stones found from various mines? No, I just brought it in and dropped it here, it's just some colored stones, and it's up to Banning to put them in place. A path winds and turns around patches of cacti, and they seem to be walking through the desert. In a recessed place under the shade of cacti, a stone fire was supported by a pair of iron bars.A frying pan painted with agate-like glaze blackened by the flames was placed on top of it. The cooking things in the pan were boiling, and bursts of steaming heat made the lid of the pan jump up and down.

Beside the fire, a man of about fifty-five was sitting cross-legged, staring intently at the flames.He is thin and frail.The muscles below the eyes build up on the cheeks and jaw.So it seems that the lips are also a little loose and purple.But when he looks up at a visitor, the blue-gray light in his eyes reminds you that although his body is weak, his heart is as strong as iron. He straightened up, with a slight smile on his face, and bowed deeply, his light gray cowboy hat falling with his movement. Salt Dinger.Bowers said briefly: He came, after a pause, he said again, this girl is the secretary, let me watch the beans.

Yan Ding'er went to the fire and squatted down, sitting on the heels of his boots.He looks comfortable and seems to be fine squatting for a few more hours.He now looks completely accomplished. Mason shook hands with Banning. You're just in time for lunch if you can eat an average prospector's meal.said Banning, glancing secretly at Della.street. I'm craving it.she says. There's no more chairs, but you don't have to sweep the sand away, there won't be any rattlesnakes where you're going to sit.sit down. Here you can say that you have a small desert of your own.Mason tried to open the conversation.

Clark laughs: You haven't seen all of it.How about taking a look at my little kingdom together before you sit down? Mason nodded. Clark led them around a large clump of cacti to another dark place surrounded by cacti.Here are two little donkeys with their heads bowed and their long ears drooping forward.On the ground were a pair of large worn saddles, and a tangle of load-boxes, rope, a tarpaulin, a pick, and a shovel and a golden frying pan. Mason said: Of course you don't use these things here, do you? Oh, says Clark, we don't use it either.The whole set belonged to Yan Dinger, and his little donkeys wouldn't be happy if he left, and I don't think the donkeys would like to leave him.Anyway, you'll be more comfortable if you're woken by a donkey in the morning.Now, detour around the trail here, if you'd like to see, please, right here, we have

Banning.Clark stopped talking at once, and turned to face Mason and Della.Streeter, low as a whisper, and fast: Don't ever mention it in front of Salty, they set him up for a woman.Once this woman married him, she would only live with him for a few months at most, and then filed for divorce. After that, she would either snatch his shares or file a lawsuit to freeze his shares.Yan Dinger is absolutely loyal.He does whatever I tell him to do. I already mentioned to him that I want to combine all our mining company shares.Once that woman found out that she couldn't control the shares, she would never marry him.Yan Ding'er doesn't understand why I do this, he doesn't understand what's going on behind the scenes, but if this woman finds out that the stock has been frozen and she can't interfere anymore, she will definitely not marry him, just like she will never Like jumping into a fire pit.Never mention it.

Clark then raised his voice and said: This is our bedroom. He pointed to another small open space covered with sand. Under the cover of a large cactus, two beddings were neatly spread out. Someday I'm going to get out of here and go back to the real desert.Of course it won't be today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. It's just that I've been thinking about the desert day and night, and there are some things I can't explain to you. Yan Dinger talked about this.Mason said. He doesn't speak much. But he is very good at expressing his feelings.Mason said. Have you heard of the Louie|Leggs Mine?Clark asked suddenly. No.The name is different, isn't it? It's the name of the donkey we named the mine with.This mine is simply a pie from the sky.Yan Dinger sold his stake to a company for $50,000, but then spent it all.One morning a few months later, he awoke to find himself penniless and pauper. oh!Della.Streeter sighed regretfully. Banning.Clark blinked his gray eyes, turned to Della and said: That's a smart move, and I would have done it differently. Mason giggled. You see, Clark went on, the way we think about money is that it's only used to buy things, otherwise it's useless.The life of a prospector is also something that money cannot buy.Every prospector is subconsciously aware of this.That's why they all spend their money as quickly as possible.How wrong I was to cling to money. Don't stop, Mason said, it's the critical part. I've always been interested in this mine, said Clark, and I should have thrown it away long ago.The more we dig into this mine, the more we find it to be a treasure.The company that bought Yan Dinger's shares wanted to squeeze me out, and we had a lawsuit.At that time, a shareholder of this company passed away, and I bought his shares, which gave me a controlling stake in this company.Then I got other shares.One day, I called Yan Dinger and told him that I would buy back the shares for him, give him part of it, and keep the rest in my custody.He was grateful.For a month he lived with me and everything went well.But soon he went to have fun and squandered all the money.This time, he had no face to see me and hid in the desert. Then I found an opportunity to make more money.I organized a comeback mining company and began to acquire and mine old mines and revitalize them.Life was hectic and exciting back then, and my wife enjoyed her social life.I started living in a big mansion, attending those boring banquets, eating and drinking, there is no need to talk about this. I've been an out-and-out gambler all my life, and I've had good luck.My wife objected to me taking such a big risk, so I had to put all the property in her name.At that time, I wanted to go to the desert to retrieve Yan Dinger, and the mere thought of it scared her, and she felt hurt. She was not well, so I didn't go, but she passed away anyway.In her will she left all her property to her mother Lillian.Bradison and her brother Jim.Bradisson.I don't think she expected the consequences of this will at all.Because I was a mine owner, she thought I was rich. She didn't understand that it was because of the shares she gave away that I was bankrupt.I went to court and declared that the shares should be community property and that I put them in my wife's name only out of respect for her. So you want me to represent you on this case?asked Mason, obviously not that interested in the matter. No, Clark said, the case was closed.The judge who heard the case suggested that I divide the shares into six or four, so that the major incidents can be reduced, and the minor incidents can be reduced to nothing. Both of us agreed.But this lawsuit has created animosity between us.My brother-in-law Jim.Bradisson thought he was a genius in business, but he never got anything done, always blaming bad luck for his failures.My wife was much younger than I was, and Jim was only thirty-five, and he always looked down on others.You can imagine what this kind of person is like. Mason nodded. My wife's untimely death kept me from living this tormented life, and my anxiety and, worse, lawsuits overwhelmed me, and I broke down.My heart is broken and my spirits are broken.Yan Dinger only showed up when he heard that I was sick.At this time, a strange thing happened, the shares that I set aside for Yan Dinger to entrust for him were enough to allow me to obtain a controlling stake in the company. Yan Ding'er was surprised to see that I was so ill, and he started to help me recover.I think his approach will work.I transferred the shares to him so he would have voting rights.We both tried to avoid Jim.Bradisson took the risk, but Yan Dinger suddenly fell in love, and I think Mrs. Bradisson arranged the matter.Had he married, there was no doubt that his wife would have gotten those shares.So I would like you to draw up a joint stock agreement, and The sound of a big spoon hitting the pan stopped him from talking, and it was Yan Dinger who was announcing that dinner was ready. I will ask Yan Dinger to sign this joint stock agreement so that we can act in unison when voting. The sound of the spoon stopped, and Clark hurried on, I'll tell you why I did it so you wouldn't ask too many embarrassing questions.If Yan Dinger knows that I have a grudge against the woman he wants to marry, he will be sad. I see, said Mason, and that's all? No, there is one more thing, but I can tell you about it in front of Yan Dinger. what is it A case of fraud.I want to hire you to represent the defendant.You will lose this case, and you will have no room for argument. who is the plaintiff. a company. Mason said: Wait, are you trying to hire me for a down payment so you can control both parties?and No, no, don't get me wrong, Clarke said, you can win this case if you have what it takes, but it's unlikely because you're doomed to fail in the first place. Then why go to court? Just when Clark was about to tell Mason, the sound of knocking on the pan sounded again, and Yan Dinger screamed: Come and eat, or I will throw it away. Clark immediately said: I can't give all the reasons. Then I can't handle the case either.Mason said. Clark smiled: Well, let's eat something first anyway.If you know a little more about the situation, you will take over the case.I'll tell you another thing in a moment, a mystery for you to solve.Now Jim.Bradisson is coming from Hayward.Small bought mines in large quantities, and the situation was terrible.But anyway, let's eat first.