in his
and drew her over the threshold. "My dear Miss Good, I have rummaged
half the state, looking for you."

"I hope I'm not interrupting.--I recognized you and--" The girl turned
her eyes to Henry Nelson, but at sight of his face her smile vanished.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" she cried. "Let me run out--"

Gray held her hands more firmly. "Never. Do you think I shall risk
losing you again? Colonel Nelson and I had finished our chat and were
merely exchanging pleasantries."

"Cross your heart?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die." Gray laughed joyously and again shook
the girl's hands.

"Yes. Colonel Gray was just leaving," Nelson managed to say.

"Colonel? Are you a colonel, too?" the girl inquired, and Gray bowed.

"I was."

"And you knew each other abroad?"

"We came to know each other very well. We were, in fact, commissioned
at the same time and place, but Colonel Nelson received his a moment
earlier than I received mine, therefore he outranked me. Now then,
permit me to retire while you and he--"

"Oh, there's nothing confidential about what I have to say. It's good
news for my partner, and I'm sure he'd love to share it." To Nelson she
announced, "Pete has a showing of oil!"

The vice-president of the bank murmured something which was lost in
Gray's quick inquiry: "Partner? Are you a partner of Colonel Nelson's?"

"After a fashion. We own a twenty-acre lease west of 'Burk'--that is, I
have a quarter interest and Henry is putting down a well. I drove out
there, and his driller told me it is looking good."

Gray turned a keenly inquisitive gaze upon his enemy, and what he saw,
or fancied he saw, gave him the thrill of a new discovery. It may have
been no more than intuition on his part, but something convinced him
that his acquaintance with Miss Good deeply displeased the man. If he
knew Henry Nelson as well as he believed he did, it was more than
disapproval, more than mere personal dislike, that smoldered in the
latter's eyes. This was luck!

In his warmest tone he cried: "Congratulations, my dear Colonel.
However badly you have fared in the Ranger district, fortune favors you
here. But why only a quarter interest? You put too low a price upon
your blessings. I'll better that arrangement. Why, I was ready to offer
Miss Good a full half of all I have, when she played a heartless jest
upon me. Ran away! Disappeared! I'll admit I was piqued. I was deeply
resentful, but--"

Nelson interrupted this flow of