in
ravines or hollows in explosive quantities. They were Mardi Gras cities.

Day by day this field spread onward toward the Red River; the whole
region smelled of oil.

Fire, of course, was an ever-present menace. Newtown, for instance, had
been wiped out several times, for it lay on a slope down which a broken
pipe line could belch a resistless wave of flame, and even yet the
place was a litter of charred timber, twisted pipe, and crumpled sheets
of galvanized iron. Owing to this menace the residents had taken the
only possible precaution. They had dug in. Behind each place of
business was a cyclone cellar--a bomb-proof shelter--into which human
bodies and stocks of merchandise could be crowded.

Gray drove directly to the lease he had come to examine, and was
disappointed to learn that the owner had just left. This was annoying;
"Bob" had assured him that he was expected. Inquiry elicited from the
surly individual in charge no more than the reluctant admission that
Jackson had been called to the nearest telephone, but would be back
sometime.

There was nothing to do but wait. Gray let his car go, then made a
cursory examination of the property. He could see little and learn
less. The caretaker agreed that the well was pumping one hundred and
fifty barrels a day.

Some evasiveness in this fellow's demeanor awoke Gray's suspicion. A
sudden telephone call. The owner's absence when he expected a
purchaser. Probably somebody else was after the property. It was
decidedly worth while to wait.

Gray was unaccustomed to inattention, incivility, and had anybody
except "Bob" Parker put him in this position he would have resented it.
Under the circumstances, however, he could do nothing except cool his
heels. As time passed he began to feel foolish; by late lunch time he
was irritable; and as the afternoon wore on he grew angry. Why didn't
"Bob" come, as she had promised? He had lost a day, and days were
precious.

Evening found him wandering about aimlessly, in a villainous mood, but
stubbornly determined to see this thing through at whatever cost. He
had no wish to spend a night amid these surroundings, for respectable
people shunned these oil-field camps after dark, and he knew himself to
be conspicuous. It would add a ridiculous climax to a trying day to be
"high-jacked"--to be frisked of his jewelry.

During the early dusk he returned to the lease, only to find even the
greasy caretaker gone. By this time Gray was