ever hear tell of an unarmed man chargin' a guy with a
gun spittin' at him?"

"I always knew he had sand in his craw. What does Doc Green say?" asked
Crawford, lighting a corncob pipe.

"Says nothin' to worry about. A flesh wound in the shoulder. Ought to
heal up in a few days."

Miss Joyce speaking, with an indignant tremor of the voice: "It was
the most cowardly thing I ever saw. He was unarmed, and he hadn't
lifted a finger when that ruffian began to shoot. I was sure he would
be ... killed."

"He'll take a heap o' killin', that boy," her father reassured. "In a way
it's a good thing this happened now. His enemies have showed their hand.
They tried to gun him, before witnesses, while he was unarmed. Whatever
happens now, Dave's got public sentiment on his side. I'm always glad to
have my enemy declare himself. Then I can take measures."

"What measures can Dave take?" asked Joyce.

A faint, grim smile flitted across the old cattleman's face. "Well, one
measure he'll take pronto will be a good six-shooter on his hip. One I'll
take will be to send Miller back to the pen, where he belongs, soon as I
can get court action. He's out on parole, like Dave is. All the State has
got to do is to reach out and haul him back again."

"If it can find him," added Bob dryly. "I'll bet it can't. He's headed
for the hills or the border right now."

Crawford rose. "Well, I'll run down with you to his room and see the boy,
Bob. Wisht he would come up and stay with us. Maybe he will."

To the cattleman Dave made light of his wound. He would be all right in a
few days, he said. It was only a scratch.

"Tha's good, son," Crawford answered. "Well, now, what are you aimin' to
do? I got a job for you on the ranch if tha's what you want. Or I can use
you in the oil business. It's for you to say which."

"Oil," said Dave without a moment of hesitation. "I want to learn that
business from the ground up. I've been reading all I could get on the
subject."

"Good enough, but don't you go to playin' geology too strong, Dave. Oil
is where it's at. The formation don't amount to a damn. You'll find it
where you find it."

"Mr. Crawford ain't strong for the scientific sharps since a college
professor got him to drill a nice straight hole on Round Top plumb
halfway to China," drawled Bob with a grin.

"I suppose it's a gamble," agreed Sanders.

"Worse'n the cattle market, and no livin' man can guess that," said the
owner of the D Bar L