tha,
anxiously.

"Of course!" cried five emphatic girlish voices.

"All right," laughed Mr. Hartley. "You shall see it, all of you--if the
train will take us there; and you'll see--well, you'll see a lot of
other things, too."

Cordelia stirred uneasily. The old anxious look came back to her eyes.
When dinner was over she stole to Mr. Hartley's side.

"Mr. Hartley, please, shall we see an oil well?" she asked, in a low
voice.

"Bless you, little lady, what do you know about oil wells?" smiled the
man, good-naturedly. "You haven't got any of those to look up, have
you?"

To his dumbfounded amazement, she answered simply:

"Yes, sir--one."

"Well, I'll be--well, just what is this proposition?" he broke off
whimsically.

"If you'll wait--just a minute--I'll get the paper," panted Cordelia.
"Mr. Hodges wrote down the name."

Very soon she had returned with the paper, and Mr. Hartley saw the name.
His face hardened, yet his eyes were curiously tender.

"I'm afraid, little girl, that this won't come out quite so well as the
Reddy affair--by the way, Reddy left an extra good-by for you this
morning. He went away before you were up, you know. He feels pretty
grateful to you, Miss Cordelia."

"But I didn't do anything, Mr. Hartley. I do wish I could see Mrs.
Granger when he gets there, though. I--I'm afraid she doesn't like
cowboys much better than Mrs. Miller does."

There was a moment's silence. Mr. Hartley was scowling at the bit of
paper in his hand.

"Did you say you _didn't_ know where that oil well was, Mr. Hartley?"
asked Cordelia, timidly.

"Yes. I don't know where it is--and I reckon there doesn't anybody else
know, either," he answered slowly. "I know where it _claims_ to be, and
I know it is just one big swindle from beginning to end."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," sighed the girl.

"So am I, my dear. I'm sorry for Mr. Hodges, and lots of others that I
know lost money in the same thing. But it can't be helped now."

"Then there aren't any oil wells here at all in Texas?" asked Cordelia,
tearfully.

"Bless you, yes, child--heaps of them! You'll see them, too, probably,
before you leave the state. But--you won't see this one."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," mourned Cordelia, again, as sadly she took the bit
of paper back to her room.

* * * * *

It was not many days before the Happy Hexagons said good-by to the
ranch--a most reluctant good-by. It was a question, however, which