d with
conviction:

"I'll bank on you, Vernon. Go in and win. It'll be a stiff game, but
you can't lose for you're on the square now."

CHAPTER XIII

THE CHALLENGE

"What do you think about this?" Harrington Chase growled as his partner
entered the private office the next morning. "Somebody's getting after
us good and plenty!"

"Let them come!" Starr Wiley shrugged. "We're on the right side of the
fence now, nobody can touch us. Anything from Cranmore?"

"Yes. Whoever it is that is trying to get a line on us isn't
overlooking any bets. Our men have been keeping me posted on the
inquiries up here, and they've got the dope so straight that it's my
opinion they have reached one of the inside staff." His tones lowered
and he glanced significantly toward the ground-glass partition which
separated them from the small army of clerks in the outer office. "It
doesn't matter, of course, but it would be just as well for the future
to know if we have an enemy in camp.--Now, Cranmore wires me in code
from Limasito that someone down there is mightily interested in our
titles and leases and particularly in what new fields we're opening up.
I tell you, if you don't get in touch with that old woman soon,
somebody will beat us to it as sure as you're alive."

"I have got a line on her." Wiley paused to light a cigar. "I told
you I suspected she'd been brought up here, and I've verified it. I
know where she and that hunchbacked kid were living two days ago.
They've cleared out, but I've put a couple of men on the party that
will lead us straight to her. I'd like to know, though, who is so
devilishly interested in our affairs."

"It is Larkin's outfit, of course. That young engineer they've got
down there has spudded in the Consuegra, that you passed up, and it's
producing seven hundred and fifty barrels a day as a starter."

Wiley thrust out his jaw.

"That's all right. I know Larkin's man; Kearn Thode, his name is. I
met him before out in Oklahoma, and I've no use for him. He's had
little use for me, either, and between you and me, he's got less now
than ever before, only he doesn't know it!" He laughed shortly. "You
might be surprised to know that Larkin himself was after the Lost
Souls."

"What?" Chase swirled about in his chair to face his partner.

"Fact. I don't know how he got wind of it, but as soon as Thode showed
up and began nosing about I knew what his game was."

"No wonder they're