clash of their steel made intimate
conversation easy. Gray noted with approval the ease with which his
dainty companion adapted herself to the surroundings and remarked upon
it.

"After four years in the East it took me a little while to get used to
it," she confessed. "The Wichita I left was a quiet town; the one I
came home to was a madhouse. At first the excitement frightened me, for
I felt as if I were being run over, tossed aside. But now that I've
fallen in with the chase, why--I think it is splendid."

"Just what are you doing and how do you do it?" Gray wanted to know.

Barbara was glad to tell him about her brief but eventful experience
since that morning at the Nelson bank when she had executed her coup,
and she recited the story with enthusiasm.

"Having no capital to go on," she explained, "I've merely bought and
sold on commission so far, but I'm not always going to be a broker. I'm
making good, and some day dad and I will be big operators. I've been
able to buy a car, and most of my time I'm out in the field. They tell
me I'm as good an oil scout as some of the' men working for the big
companies; but, of course, I'm not. I merely have an advantage;
drillers tell me more than they'd tell a man."

"Of course, with your father along you're safe in going anywhere, but
to go through the fields alone--"

"Oh, dad doesn't go!"

"What?" Gray looked up incredulously, but "Bob" nodded her head
vigorously.

"Dad hates automobiles; they frighten him. So I go out alone while he
runs the office."

"Extraordinary! But, my dear girl, it's dangerous."

"Naturally, I avoid 'Burk' and the Northwest Extension after dark--even
the scouts do that. But it wouldn't pay anybody to high-jack me. No. I
go right in on the derrick floors and hobnob with the drillers, talk
about their wives and their families, discuss croup and fishing jobs;
sometimes they let me taste the sand and even show me the logs of their
wells. It amused them at first to think of a girl playing the game
single-handed--most men, however rough, have a sense of chivalry, you
know, and are better sports than they realize. Now--well, they're
beginning to respect my business ability. They have learned that I keep
my mouth closed and that I'll treat them squarely. Some of them would
fight for me. I tell you it is the greatest experience, the most
thrilling adventure, a girl ever had."

"You are a brave child, and I admire your courage," Gray declared.