t?"

There was a pause.

"Did you?"

"I did."

Again there was silence.

"Why?"

"For one thing, I was sorry for you. I really was. I had caused you and
Tony a great deal of suffering, and I cannot bring myself to inflict
actual suffering upon anyone without doing my best to alleviate it.
Then again, I had nothing against you personally. We merely clashed in
the course of--business." Mallow allowed himself to sink back upon the
desk; he turned his dark goggles upon his friends in a blind stare of
bewilderment.

"Well, I'll be damned!" he said, finally.

"Mallow thought _we_ had helped to spring him." It was McWade speaking.
"That's why he beat it up here and that's how we happened to put him to
work."

"I don't get you yet," the man in glasses muttered. "I can't understand
why--"

"What's the odds why he done it?" Stoner inquired, sharply. "Any man
that can squirt my eyes full of tobasco, and me with a six gun on him,
is all right. And him with a bottle of milk duly made and provided!"
The field member of the firm slapped his thigh and laughed loudly.
"Then to forget the whole fracas and shake hands on it! That's
handsome! Mr. Gray, I'm here to say there's a lot of boys going to lay
off you like you was a cactus."

The object of this commendation was pleased. "Gratitude is rare," he
murmured. "I thank you. Now then, I was thinking of making friend
Mallow a business proposition, but--perhaps I can interest you, also,
in doing something for me. I'll pay well."

"We're live ones," Stoner asserted.

"It is business of a confidential nature."

"All the talking we do is on the street. We're promoting wildcats, but
I guess we know as much about the good wells as the big companies
themselves, and when it comes to actual drilling, I've forgotten more
than all these boll weevils will ever learn. What can we do for you?"

"For one thing, I wish to hire the brightest oil scout in the district,
but I don't want him, nor anyone else, for the time being, to suspect
that he's working for me. I will double his salary to watch one
operator. Perhaps he could appear to be in your employ? Furthermore, I
intend to do considerable secret buying and selling, and I will need
several dummies--moral character unimportant. All I insist upon is
absolute loyalty and obedience to my orders."

During the silence that followed, Gray felt the three men staring at
him curiously.

"You're after big game, I take it?" McWade inquire