o later.

Gray had made it an invariable practice to speak affably to his enemy
in passing, mainly because it so angered the latter; this time he
insisted upon stopping. He was debonair and smiling, as always, but
there was more than a trace of mockery in his tone as he said:

"So your luck has changed, hasn't it? That Avenger well of mine has put
a good value on your property. I congratulate you, Colonel."

"Humph! I don't believe in luck," Nelson mumbled. "And the Avenger
isn't enough of a well to brag about."

"So? You don't believe in luck? It seems to be our lot invariably to
differ, doesn't it? Now, my dear Colonel, I'm not ashamed to confess
that I am deeply superstitious, and that I believe implicitly in signs
and prodigies. You see, I was born under a happy star; 'at my nativity
the front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,' as it were. Comfortable
feeling, I assure you. Take that incident at New-town, not long ago;
doesn't that prove my contention?"

"What incident?"

Gray's brows lifted whimsically. "Of course. How should you know? There
was a clumsy attempt to do me bodily harm, to--assassinate me. Funny,
isn't it? So ill considered and so impracticable.--But about this
Avenger matter, if you find it inconvenient to offset my wells as fast
as I put them down, perhaps you'd consider selling--"

"_Inconvenient?_" Nelson felt the blood rush to his face at this
insufferable insult, but he calmed himself with the thought that his
opponent was deliberately goading him. After all, it served him right
for permitting the fellow to stop him. "Inconvenient! Ha!" He turned
away carelessly.

"No offense, my dear Colonel. I thought, after your Arkansas fiasco,
you might wish--"

"What Arkansas fiasco?" Nelson wheeled, and in spite of himself his
voice cracked.

"Ah! Another secret, eh?" Gray winked elaborately--nothing could have
been more deliberately offensive than that counterfeit of a friendly
understanding. "Very well, I sha'n't say a word."

"You--" The banker was gasping. "You're doing your damnedest to--to
start something, aren't you?"

"Every day. Every hour. Every minute." The speaker bowed. "In defense
of my promise to fight fair, let me assure you, however, that I did not
start this. As a matter of fact, I knew nothing about it until you had
been hooked. Apropos of that quixotic promise, please remember that
your own actions have absolved me from it."

The men stared at each other for a moment