ert vegetation for some distance all around. But Stratton
slid hastily out of his saddle, flung the reins over Pete's head, and
walked swiftly forward. Thrilled with a sudden excitement and suspense,
Bud followed.

"What is it?" he questioned eagerly, as Buck bent down to scoop up a
handful of the trampled sand. "What have yuh--"

He broke off abruptly as Stratton turned suddenly on him, eyes dilated and
a spot of vivid color glowing on each cheek-bone.

"Don't you see?" he demanded, thrusting his hand toward the boy. "Don't
you understand?"

Staring at the open palm, Jessup's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"Good Lord!" he gasped. "You don't mean that it--it's--"

He paused incredulously, and Buck nodded.

"I'm sure of it," he stated crisply.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE SECRET OF NORTH PASTURE

Jessup swallowed hard. "But--but--" he faltered, "there ain't never been
any found around here. The nearest fields are hundreds of miles away,
ain't they?"

Stratton dropped the lump of sand. A number of particles still clung to
his palm, and over the skin there spread an oily, slightly iridescent
film. His manner had suddenly grown composed, though his eyes still shone
with suppressed excitement.

"Just the same, it's--oil!" he returned quietly. "There's no doubt at all
about it. Look at the ground there."

Mechanically Bud's glance shifted to the wide, shallow depression in the
desert. The sand was noticeably darker, and here and there under the sun's
rays, it held that faintly iridescent glint that was unmistakable. At a
distance he would have said there was a spring somewhere beneath the
surface. But no water ever had that look, and now that he was prepared for
it he even noticed a faint, distinctive odor in the air.

"By golly!" he cried excitedly. "You mean to say the whole pasture's full
of it?"

"Not likely, but it looks to me as if there was a-plenty. There were
traces back there where we stopped, and there's no telling how many
more--"

"But I didn't see nothin'," interrupted Bud in surprise.

"You weren't looking for it, that's why," shrugged Stratton. "I was.
Thinking it all over this past week, I got to wondering if oil might not
just possibly be what we ought to look for. I was so doubtful I didn't say
anything about it. Like you said, nobody's ever struck it anywhere around
these parts, but I reckon you never can tell."

"Wough!" Bud suddenly exploded in a tremendous exhalation of breath.