w, don't you get fresh!" cried the oil company
promoter. And then he added with a sneer: "I reckon you've been
listening to more than was good for you."

"Well, if you want to know it, we heard a few things that surprised us,"
answered Jack boldly.

"What did you hear?" questioned Jake Tate quickly.

"We heard what you had to say about the Lorimer Spell claim, if you must
know it," retorted Fred.

"Yes, and we are going to report it to my Uncle Dick at once," said
Andy.

At this the men were evidently much disturbed, and Tate pulled Davenport
back and whispered something into his ear. Then both conferred with
Jackson. In the meantime Nappy and Slugger came forward again with
Werner close behind them.

"You tried to run things to suit yourselves up at Colby Hall," sneered
Slugger. "But you'll find it a different story down here."

"Don't you dare to tell any stories about us," warned Nappy. "If you do
you'll get in bad, mark my words. I've stood all I'm going to stand from
your crowd."

"If you are behaving yourself and trying to earn an honest living, we'll
have nothing to say to anybody about your past," answered Jack. "The war
is over, and the question of how you aided those German sympathizers is
a thing of the past."

"Don't you trust 'em," growled Werner. "They'll do their level best to
get you in bad. I know 'em!"

"You just let me get at you, Werner, and I'll show you what I'll do,"
retorted Jack, and made a move in the direction of the fellow. And at
this the bully lost no time in retreating. He was evidently afraid that
the Rovers would hand him over to the authorities.

By this time the men were coming forward again.

"See here, boys, we don't want any trouble," said Carson Davenport
oilily. "We were only talking about that Lorimer Spell claim in a
general way. I'll explain everything to Mr. Rover's satisfaction in the
morning. I only want to work with him in this matter. We could get along
so much better than if we worked separately."

"All right, then," answered Jack. "You know where my father can be
found."

"You may have got a wrong impression from our talk," added Jake Tate.
"We handle things in a rougher way down in this oil country than you do
up in New York. Davenport will straighten out everything with your
father."

After this the men continued to talk to the boys for several minutes,
doing their best to allay the Rovers' suspicions. Nappy and Slugger
listened with interest, as d