can stand it, but, mister, I don't want folks to laugh at my children,
and there's other things I don't want to happen to 'em. Buddy's a wild
hoss and he's got a streak of the Old Nick in him. And Allie ain't
broke no better 'n him. I got a feelin' there may be trouble ahead,
an'--sometimes I 'most wish we'd never had no oil in Texas."

CHAPTER VI

"Well, did you land them hicks?" It was Gray's driver speaking. Through
the gloom of early evening he was guiding his car back toward Ranger.
The road was the same they had come, but darkness had invested it with
unfamiliar perils, or so it seemed, for the headlights threw every rock
and ridge into bold relief and left the holes filled with mysterious
shadows; the vehicle strained, its motor raced, its gears clashed
noisily as it rocked along like a dory in a boisterous tide rip. Only
now and then did a few rods of smooth going permit the chauffeur to
take his attention from the streak of illumination ahead long enough to
light another cigarette, a swift maneuver, the dexterity of which
bespoke long practice.

"Yes. And I made a good sale," the passenger declared. With pride he
announced the size of the Briskow check.

"J'ever see a dame the size of that gal?" A short laugh issued from the
driver. "She'd clean up in vaudeville, wouldn't she? Why, she could
lift a ton, in harness. And hoein' the garden, with their coin! It's
like a woman I heard of: they got a big well on their farm and she came
to town to do some shoppin'; somebody told her she'd ought to buy a
present for her old man, so she got him a new handle for the ax.
_Gawd!_"

A few miles farther on the fellow confessed: "I wasn't crazy about
comin' for you to-night. Not after I got a flash at what's in that
valise."

"No?"

"You're takin' a chance, stranger."

"Nothing new about that." Gray remained unperturbed. His left arm was
behind the driver; with it he clung rigidly to the back of the seat as
the car plunged and rolled. "Frequently we are in danger when we least
suspect it. Now you, for instance."

"Me?" The man at the wheel shot a quick glance at his fare.

"You probably take more chances than you dream of."

"How so?"

"Um-m! These roads are a menace to life and limb; the country is
infested with robbers--"

"Oh, sure! That's what I had in mind. Joy-ridin' at night with a hatful
of diamonds is my idea of a sucker's amusement. Of course, we won't
'get it'--"

"Of course! One never doe