other and offering
cigars to his guests.

Crawford told him. He began with the story of the time Sanders and
Hart had saved him from the house of his enemy into which he had been
betrayed. He related how the boy had pursued the men who stole his pinto
and the reasoning which had led him to take it without process of law. He
told the true story of the killing, of the young fellow's conviction, of
his attempt to hold a job in Denver without concealing his past, and of
his busy week since returning to Malapi.

"All I've got to say is that I hope my boy will grow up to be as good
a man as Dave Sanders," the cattleman finished, and he turned over to
Graham a copy of the findings of the Pardon Board, of the pardon, and of
the newspapers containing an account of the affair with a review of the
causes that had led to the miscarriage of justice.

"Now about your Jackpot Company. What do you figure as the daily output
of the gusher?" asked Graham.

"Don't know. It's a whale of a well. Seems to have tapped a great lake of
oil half a mile underground. My driller Burns figures it at from twenty
to thirty thousand barrels a day. I cayn't even guess, because I know so
blamed little about oil."

Graham looked out of the window at the rushing landscape and tapped on
the table with his finger-tips absentmindedly. Presently he announced a
decision crisply.

"If you'll leave your papers here I'll look them over and let you know
what I'll do. When I'm ready I'll send McMurray forward to you."

An hour later the secretary announced to the three men in the Pullman the
decision of his chief.

"Mr. Graham has instructed me to tell you gentlemen he'll look into your
proposition. I am wiring an oil expert in Denver to return with you to
Malapi. If his report is favorable, Mr. Graham will cooperate with you
in developing the field."

CHAPTER XXXI

TWO ON THE HILLTOPS

It was the morning after his return. Emerson Crawford helped himself to
another fried egg from the platter and shook his knife at the bright-eyed
girl opposite.

"I tell you, honey, the boy's a wonder," he insisted. "Knows what he
wants and goes right after it. Don't waste any words. Don't beat around
the bush. Don't let any one bluff him out. Graham says if I don't want
him he'll give him a responsible job pronto."

The girl's trim head tilted at her father in a smile of sweet derision.
She was pleased, but she did not intend to say so.

"I believe you're