ing wells for us with the Marvelous Magnetic Finder and he
don't know an offset from a headache post."

"Certainly, I know--"

"Why, Professor! Is it possible we have been deceived in you? An offset
is the thing that sets off to one side of the crown block and it's a
light blue, the same as a formation. It's the shape of a syncline, only
bigger."

"Don't get funny. You drill an offset well to keep a man from sucking
all the oil out from under your land."

"Right!" said Gray. "Wells, as you know, are drilled as close to the
side lines as the law allows. When oil is found, the adjoining
landowner can compel his lessee to put down a well to offset every one
that threatens to draw oil from beneath his property." "That's what
I've just been telling you."

"Many an operator has gone broke offsetting wells in order to protect
his leases, especially if he has a number of neighbors who all start
drilling promptly. That is one of the many production troubles--and
there's a saying that trouble begins when the oil starts."

"You said it. But to offset the Nelsons so's to cripple 'em--" Brick
Stoner shook his head. "It ain't hard to borrow money for good offsets.
'Most any bank will lend."

"It is hard for anybody who is overextended to borrow. Possibly my plan
won't work, but to annoy, to harass, to embarrass, to stretch them
thin--it's all a part of the game. People are never as well off as we
think they are. The Nelsons are close to the sand in a number of
places. I want to procure the adjoining acreage. For every well they
make, I'll force them to drill six more. The day they strike oil I'll
have a string of derricks every two hundred feet along their side
lines."

It was Mallow who spoke next. "That will cost you dollar for dollar,
boss. Have you got chips enough to match their stack?"

"I don't have to invest dollar for dollar. My money will go for leases,
and I'll let drilling contracts, fifty-fifty, sixty-forty,
seventy-thirty--anything to get quick action. Other people's money will
do the work for me. Remember, I'm not after oil, I'm after a man."

"I'll say you are!" Stoner looked up from a frowning contemplation of
the maps. "And if you'll take a chance I'll show you how you can drill
one well and cost them three--that is, provided you hit." As the others
leaned over his shoulder he explained: "Here's a square block of four
twenties--separate leases, all of 'em--and the Nelsons own three. You
can cop the four