ything--I'd of doubled whatever you're gettin'--" The
speaker raised a hopeful gaze; he paused as if to make sure that his
hearer was beyond temptation. "I thought mebbe him and you'd like to
travel some--go to furrin places--see the hull world. I kin afford it."

"Thank you for the compliment, but--"

"I got some big deals on, an' Buddy's got to learn enough so's to hang
onto what's comin' to him an' Allie. He needs a man like you to learn
him, an' be an example. It would be a payin' job, Mister Gray."

It was in a voice graver than usual that the younger man spoke:
"Briskow, you're sensible enough to understand plain talk. I'm not a
fit man to teach Buddy what he ought to know. In fact, I'm about the
worst person you could select."

"How so?"

"Because I'm a good deal of a--rotter. I couldn't permit Buddy to make
a mess of his life, such as I've made of mine."

The father sighed. "I s'pose you know, but--Well, I'm disapp'inted. But
it wasn't hully on that account I come to Dallas. Ma told me over the
telephone how nice you been an' what you done for her 'n' Allie, so I
says to myself I'll square things by givin' him a chance to make some
money."

Gray stirred slightly in his chair and regarded the speaker more keenly.

"When oil come in at Ranger, nobody thought it would get out our way,
but Ma had a dream--a lot of dreams--about oil on our farm, so I got an
outfit to come there an' drill. Folks thought we was crazy, and we
didn't expect they'd find much, ourselves--a few bar'l a day would of
looked big--but I allus had ambitions to be good an' rich, so I got
options on quite a bit of acreage. It didn't take no money at the time,
'cause land was what people had most of. Along with the rest, there's a
hundred an' sixty right next to ours--hill stuff that wouldn't feed a
goat. It's wuth a lot of money now, but the option's 'most run out."

"When does it expire?"

"Saturday."

"That's to-morrow."

Gus Briskow nodded. "It's cheap at a thousand dollars an acre, an' it
costs two hundred."

"Of course you'll take it."

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Per one thing, I got a lot of other land just as good an' mebbe
better, an' I been takin' it up out of the royalties that come in. We
got enough sure money in sight to do us, but I promised Ma to play
safe, an'--we can't take everything. You kin have that option, Mister
Gray, for nothin'. You kin sell the lease inside of a week an' make
fifty thousand dollars, or you