their enterprise, giving
them the benefit of our experience, our capital, and our prestige. I say
they had every reason to assume that we were acting in absolute good
faith, and no ground to suppose that there was any ulterior motive
behind our negotiations. It must be remembered that this occurred some
years ago, before the "System's" perfidy was a calculated contingency.

The knife was now in, but the "System" had still to corkscrew it in the
wound.

CHAPTER XIII

THE TRAP IN FINANCE

After "pulling off" such a big "trick," as the professional crooks put
it, and getting away with such a fat bundle of "swag," you, my good
reader, might naturally suppose that this shining light of the "System,"
contented with his profits, would pass on to new victims; or, if you
have a mistaken impression of Mr. Rogers' sense of humor, for really he
has a keen sense of the ridiculous--after five o'clock on week-days and
all day Sunday--you might think he would take the opportunity to order
me to tack up his card on the Utah office door, inscribed, "We will
return when you recoup," and transfer his milking machine to other
udders. No, that is where you, old-fashioned reader that you are, have
"sized up" Mr. Rogers inaccurately. He had not finished.

Utah was not yet exhausted as a wealth-producer for the "System." After a
brief lull, representatives of Clark, Ward & Co. came to me requesting that
they be allowed to see "Standard Oil's" report on their mine. It was most
important for their financial arrangements that they be told what was in
store for them. That was what they thought. I told Mr. Rogers. He
instructed me to report to the Utah people that Mr. Rogers had looked wise
and said nothing. The double-perfected "look-wise-and-say-nothing" is one
of "Standard Oil's" pet business devices. Whoever tries to penetrate its
secrets is always welcome to his inferences, but no one in "Standard Oil"
is ever on record in case the inquisitive one guesses wrong.

"Lawson," Rogers said, "just tell those people that our way of doing
business is to send out reports when we decide it is time for them to be
seen."

In the meantime Utah kept booming. A week before the expiration of our
option, the price being then forty-five, I heard from Mr. Rogers again.
He gave me the most mysterious order of all: "Sell 50,000 more." Up to
that time I should have declared to any one that I was up in all the
quirks and kinks of the stock game, but