w was the first to speak. "Come on. What's the joker? I ain't
saying you'd murder the guy for that farm, but if it's as good as that
he'd of died of the plague or something, and left it to you long before
this."

"In a way, I'm getting ahead of my story," Stoner continued,
imperturbably. "The oil ain't actually visible, but it will be if,
when, and as, Henry Nelson gets ready to buy it."

"Easy enough to pour oil into a water well, I suppose, but that
wouldn't fool a child. As for salting _running_ water, a creek--show
me."

"There's a lot for you to learn in this business, Mallow. The point is,
can we lay Nelson against a bunch of acreage like that?"

"You could lay _me_ against it if it looks like you say it does,"
McWade declared.

"This bootlegger, being half dead and non compost mentis, would help
put it over with a man like Nelson; he'd set him in a draught while he
was signing the option. I'll guarantee the seepage to last for a month,
even if he has the well bailed out every day, and the creek will carry
oil for half a mile."

"Would your one-lunged friend know how to play in?"

"_Would_ he? It was his idea, and all that kept us off of it last year
was the fact that the oil would have to be hauled about thirty miles,
and we didn't have the price between us to hire a truck."

For some time the trio discussed the various angles of Stoner's
proposition, endeavoring if possible to devise some natural way of
intriguing the interest of Henry Nelson. On this score McWade had fewer
apprehensions than did his companions, his contention being that it
mattered not how the matter was brought to the banker's attention so
long as the property would stand investigation. Nelson was bound to be
suspicious, anyhow, and a sale depended entirely upon the character of
the oil showing. McWade's coolness toward the enterprise, it
transpired, was occasioned not by a loftier sense of rectitude than his
associates displayed, but by lingering doubts as to the profits
involved.

Not until Brick declared that his tubercular friend would accede to any
arrangement he saw fit to make did the junior partner fall in with the
proposal. "If it's a fair, square deal all around, I'm for it," the
latter finally agreed. "But we can't afford to have any guy squawking
that we did him up--especially if he's only got one lung to holler
with. We're a legitimate firm, and we've got to treat our clients
right. I think a fifty-fifty split would be