u,
old socks. I can't tell you how damn glad I am. Doble needed killin', but
I'd rather you hadn't done it."

The other man made no comment on this phase of the situation. "This
brings Dug Doble out into the open at last. He'll come pretty near going
to the pen for this."

"I can't see Applegate arrestin' him. He'll fight, Dug will. My notion is
he'll take to the hills and throw off all pretense. If he does he'll be
the worst killer ever was known in this part of the country. You an'
Crawford want to look out for him, Dave."

"Crawford says he wants me to be treasurer of the company, Bob. You and I
are to manage it, he says, with Burns doing the drilling."

"Tha's great. He told me he was gonna ask you. Betcha we make the ol'
Jackpot hum."

"D' you ever hear of a man land poor, Bob?"

"Sure have."

"Well, right now we're oil poor. According to what the old man says
there's no cash in the treasury and we've got bills that have to be paid.
You know that ten thousand he paid in to the bank to satisfy the note. He
borrowed it from a friend who took it out of a trust fund to loan it to
him. He didn't tell me who the man is, but he said his friend would get
into trouble a-plenty if it's found out before he replaces the money.
Then we've got to keep our labor bills paid right up. Some of the other
accounts can wait."

"Can't we borrow money on this gusher?"

"We'll have to do that. Trouble is that oil isn't a marketable asset
until it reaches a refinery. We can sell stock, of course, but we don't
want to do much of that unless we're forced to it. Our play is to keep
control and not let any other interest in to oust us. It's going to take
some scratching."

"Looks like," agreed Bob. "Any use tryin' the bank here?"

"I'll try it, but we'll not accept any call loan. They say Steelman owns
the bank. He won't let us have money unless there's some nigger in the
woodpile. I'll probably have to try Denver."

"That'll take time."

"Yes. And time's one thing we haven't got any too much of. Whoever
underwrites this for us will send an expert back with me and will wait
for his report before making a loan. We'll have to talk it over with
Crawford and find out how much treasury stock we'll have to sell locally
to keep the business going till I make a raise."

"You and the old man decide that, Dave. I can't get away from here till
we get Number Three roped and muzzled. I'll vote for whatever you two
say."

An hour later