Bob" Parker, knowing his
rival's feelings toward the girl. Another insult! The upstart certainly
possessed an uncanny dexterity in pricking armor joints. But what if
Gray were in earnest? "Bob" had become a wonderfully desirable
creature, she was the most attractive girl in Wichita Falls--

It was a thought that had not previously presented itself to Henry
Wilson, and it disturbed him now. He was glad, indeed, that he had sent
to Ranger for that field man.

In and around the office of McWade & Stoner these were busy days, what
with a couple of new wildcat promotions and a well going down on
semiproven ground--that lease which cornered into the Nelson holdings,
and to which Stoner had called attention. It had been easy to sell
stock in the latter enterprise, and now the deeper went the hole, the
higher rose the hopes of the promoters. Stoner himself was directing
operations, and he had named the well "Avenger Number One."

To-day he and his partner had been listening to Mallow, who concluded
an earnest discourse with these words:

"Nelson and her are pardners in one deal and he's stuck on her. If
anybody can put it over, she's the one."

"If he buys that well it'll be the biggest laugh this town ever had,"
McWade declared.

"Buy it? A hundred and fifty barrels in the heart of settled production
for seventy-five thousand? I bet he'll buy it."

"Think the boss will stand for that kind of a deal?"

"Why not? They can't hang it on him, and Heaven knows I'm honest."

"He said 'nothing crooked'--"

Mallow snorted. "Say, I bet you believe in Santa Claus! Gray's a great
man, and what makes him great is that he does his own crooked work."

Stoner was inclined to agree with Mallow's measure of their associate.
"That's how I got him figgered. His honesty talk didn't go far with me,
and I don't believe he'll kick at anything. He's willing to pay any
price to break this banker, but you can't bankrupt a feller unless you
rip his coin loose; you can't _ask_ him to please loosen. If we make a
well of the Avenger we'll force him to shoot maybe a hundred thousand
right away, and that may cramp him for a while; but suppose he makes
the turn and hits it like we do? We've made him that much stronger,
haven't we? Gray plans to keep him spending faster than he can get it
in, and that's all right--if it works, but if Mallow can bilk him for
seventy-five thousand at one fell swipe--Well, I'll bet my best gold
tooth that the boss wil