he dead of
night," answered Bob. "But taking money that isn't rightfully yours
can not be called by a very pleasant name, you know. Mind you, I
don't say these men are dishonest, but judging from what I overheard
they lack only the opportunity.

"They're going to Oklahoma, too, and that's what interested me when I
first heard them," he went on. "The name attracted my attention, and
then the older one went on to talk about their chances of getting the
best of some one in the oil fields.

"'The way to work it,' he said, 'is to get hold of a woman
farm-owner; some one who hasn't any men folks to advise her or meddle
with her property. Ten to one she won't have heard of the oil boom,
or if she has, it's easy enough to pose as a government expert and
tell her her land is worthless for oil. We'll offer her a good price
for it for straight farming, and we'll have the old lady grateful to
us the rest of her life.'

"If that doesn't sound like the scheming of a couple of rascals, I
miss my guess," concluded Bob. "You see the trick, don't you, Betty?
They'll take care to find a farm that's right in the oil section, and
then they'll bully and persuade some timid old woman into selling her
farm to them for a fraction of its worth."

"Can't you expose 'em?" said Betty vigorously. "Tell the oil men
about them! I guess there must be people who would know how to keep
such men from doing business. What are you going to do about it,
Bob?"

The boy looked at her in admiration.

"You believe in action, don't you?" he returned. "You see, we can't
really do anything yet, because, so far as we know, the men have
merely talked their scheme over. If people were arrested for merely
plotting, the world might be saved a lot of trouble, but free speech
would be a thing of the past. As long as they only talk, Betty, we
can't do a thing."

"Here those men come now, down the aisle," whispered Betty excitedly.
"Don't look up--pretend to be fixing the camera."

Bob obediently fumbled with the box, while Betty gazed detachedly
across the aisle. The two men glanced casually at them as they
passed, opened the door of the car, and went on into the next coach.

"They're going to the smoker," guessed Bob, correctly as it proved.
"I'm going to follow them, Betty, and see if I can hear any more.
Perhaps there will be something definite to report to the proper
authorities. From what Mr. Littell told us, the oil field promoters
would like all the cro