CHAPTER XVI
From the day of their first meeting, Henry Nelson and Calvin Gray hadclashed. No two people could be more different in disposition andtemper, hence it was only natural that every characteristic, everyaction of the one should have aroused the other's antagonism. Nelsonwas a cool, selfish, calculating plodder with little imagination andless originality; he thought in grooves. His was a splendid type ofmind for a banker. He had but one weak point--_viz_., a villainoustemper, a capacity for blind, vindictive rage--a weakness, truly, for aman who dealt in money--but a weakness that lent him a certain humanityand without which he would have been altogether too mechanical, toocolorless, too efficient. Nature seldom errs by making supermen. A drabman, in many ways, Nelson was extraordinary mainly in this, that hismind followed straight, obvious channels, and that never, except underthe urge of extreme passion, did he depart from the strictly logicalline of action. In this, of course, he was superior to the averageperson, who too frequently undertakes the unusual. Calvin Gray'sebullience, his dash, his magnificence of demeanor, could be nothingless than an affront to such a man; Nelson could see in him only apompous braggart, an empty, arrogant strutter.
Age and easy success had not improved the banker's apoplectic turn ofmind, hence Gray's defiant declaration of war, his impudent assurancethat the recent misfortunes to the house of Nelson were the directresults of his own deliberate efforts, had proven almost unendurable.In the first place, Nelson could not imagine a man making such adeclaration; it was new to his entire experience and contrary to hiscode. It was unconservative, therefore it staggered him. It was, infact, a phenomenon so unique as to leave him numb. He told himself thatit must have been the act of a madman or a fool. Under no circumstancescould he conceive of himself warning an enemy of his intentions; on thecontrary, when he undertook to crush a rival he went about it slyly,secretly, in the only regular and proper way. As a matter of fact, ithad come as a disagreeable surprise to learn that his former comrade atarms cherished any resentment whatever toward him, for he had thoughthis tracks were well covered.
What left the banker actually gasping, however, that which he came backto with unfailing astonishment, was Gray's effrontery in coming toWichita Falls to boast of his accomplishments. That bespoke suchcontempt, such supreme self-confidence in his ability to wreak furtherdamage, that Nelson wanted to shout aloud his rage and his defiance.
Following the departure of his two callers on that day of the meetingin the bank, Nelson closed his desk and went home. He could work nomore. For several days thereafter he was an unpleasant person to dobusiness with.
On mature consideration, what amazed him as much as anything else wasthe fact that Gray had made good in so short a time and in such a bigway. Evidently, however, it was only another story of a lucky break andan overnight fortune--a common occurrence these days. But it was doublyunfortunate under the circumstances, for already Nelson was carrying aload equal to his strength, and he told himself that he could notafford to be distracted, even temporarily, by the irresponsible actionsof a maniac. One never could tell what a madman would do. And Gray hadconfessed himself a madman--a fanatic of the most dangerous type. Therewas but one course of action open--viz., to eliminate him, destroy himwithout delay. That was no easy task, even in these lawless times, butthe stakes were too high to permit of half measures. There must be away.
One would have to be careful, of course, not to put oneself too much inthe power of unscrupulous people, and, alas! the world was full ofunscrupulous people. It was a pity that people could be so unscrupulousas to take advantage of a bargain made in good faith. That wasblackmail. However, the prestige of the Nelson name was great, thepower of its money was potent, and Henry believed that he could protecthimself from eventualities. After cautious deliberation he sent word toone of his men in the Ranger field that he wished to see him.
The man came promptly, and when he left Henry Nelson's house after aconference he carried with him a perfectly clear idea why he had beensent for. This despite the fact that he had not been told in so manywords. He knew, for instance, that a certain Calvin Gray had become amenace to his employers, so dangerous that it was worth to them asubstantial fortune to be rid of him, and that while Henry Nelson couldunder no circumstances countenance anything illegal, anything savoringof violence, nevertheless if some accident should befall Gray, if someact of God should put an end to him, there would be no disposition onHenry's part to question the divine origin of that calamity.Furthermore, the speaker had made it plain that if Providence did takea hand in some such mysterious manner, he would then be in a positionamply to reward his employee for many acts of loyalty that hadapparently passed unrecognized. For instance, profitable deals wereforever coming up, new acreage was constantly being acquired, and itwould be easy to carry a third party for an interest which was bound tomake that third party rich.
All this was expressed with admirable vagueness, but the man understood.
So much accomplished, Nelson went to Dallas and there undertook tolearn something about the size of Calvin Gray's profits, who was behindhim and the extent of their backing, and what his prospects were. Hefollowed every avenue of information; he even went so far as to hire aninvestigator and send him north to look up Gray's record and to followhis tracks as far back as possible. Nelson was reconnoitering behindthe enemy's lines and testing the strength of his position.
When he returned home Gray was gone, whither he could not learn. As thedays passed without further developments, Nelson began to believe thathe had had a bad dream and that Gray had merely been talking to hearhis own voice. He devoutly hoped that such would prove to be the case.
A time came, however, when his apprehensions were roused afresh, and itwas Barbara Parker who rekindled them. She had come to the bank with anexcellent proposition and was doing her best to sell it; in the courseof her conversation she referred to Gray in a manner that gave Nelsoncause for thought.
"I've looked this lease over," "Bob" was saying, "and I've seen thebooks. It has been producing a hundred and fifty barrels a daysteadily. Production like that is cheap at a thousand dollars a barrel.It is worth a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, Henry."
"Why is it offered for seventy-five?"
"Bob" shrugged. "How did a 'boll weevil' like this Jackson ever makeeven a hundred-and-fifty-barrel well, in the first place? Where did heget the money to drill? He is sick of the game, I suppose, and would besatisfied to get his money back with a reasonable profit. It is a find,really."
"Looks so, for a fact. How did you get on to it, 'Bob'?"
"Purely by chance. Through a man named Mallow, a 'scientist' of somesort with a magic tester." The girl laughed.
"Don't know him."
"Mallow is as queer as the rest of his kind, and I put no faith in hisstory until I investigated. But the well is there and doing a hundredand fifty barrels as regular as clockwork."
"You'll have no trouble in selling it."
"Then you're not interested?"
"Interested? Yes, indeed." Nelson nodded. "I'm quite excited, as amatter of fact, but--I can't handle it at this particular time."
"Frankly, I'm glad you can't," Barbara told him, "for now I can sell itto Mr. Gray."
"Gray?" Henry looked up quickly. "If you wanted it for him, why did youbring it to me?"
"Because Mr. Mallow insisted. He felt sure you'd jump at it. Besides,Mr. Gray is away and prompt action is necessary. I'll wire him at onceand ask him to accept my judgment."
"Will he do so?"
The girl colored faintly at the tone of this inquiry. "Perhaps. I thinkhe believes in me, and--that's more than you do. It's mighty flatteringto a girl to have a man like Mr. Gray believe in her. Why, I ampractically his agent! He buys and sells through me whenever he can."
"He's buying and selling, is he? He said something about entering thisfield in a big way--"
"He's in." "Bob's" eyes were sparkling. "Oh, things are looking up fordad and me. Mr. Gray is a real miracle m
an, isn't he?" When thisquestion evoked no response, the girl inquired, curiously, "Tell me,are you and he such good friends as he says you are?"
"Does he say we are good friends?"
"Um-m--well, he speaks admiringly of you, and if people admire me I_love_ them. He thinks you are a remarkably capable person. 'Adetermined fighter,' I think he called you. That should be high praise,coming from a fellow officer. He probably outlined his plans to you."
"He did." Nelson spoke dryly.
"I assumed that he was relying on your judgment and taking your tips."
"Why? How so?"
"Because he has bought so much land alongside of yours."
"Where?"
Barbara was surprised. "I--why, I supposed you knew!" After a moment ofhesitation she said: "I think I'd better keep my mouth closed. Just thesame, he couldn't have done better than to follow your lead. That isthe first compliment I ever paid you, Henry."
"I've paid you enough. And I do believe in you, 'Bob,' but I'm not theflattering kind. He's a great ladies' man. I wonder if he is going tomake me jealous."
"You? Jealous? Coming from Wichita's most emotionless banker, from thecold county Croesus, that speech is almost a--a declaration." MissParker laughed frankly. "Why, Henry! My haughty little nose is turningup--I can feel it. But, alas! it proves your insincerity. If you hadfaith in my judgment you'd pick up this snap."
With some hesitation the man said: "We're in deep, 'Bob.' Awfully deep!And things haven't gone as well as they should, lately. It's temporary,of course, but it would require an extraordinary effort at this time totake on anything new. That's the worst of this oil game, it takes somuch money to protect your holdings. It doesn't pay to prospect landfor the benefit of your neighbor; the risks are too great. Gray hasbeen pretty attentive to you, hasn't he?"
"That's a part of the man; he is attentive to everybody. I havereceived more candy and flowers and delightful little surprises than inall my short, neglected life."
"I didn't know you liked candy."
"I don't. But I adore getting it. The thought counts. I don't care muchfor canaries, either--I have such bad luck with them--but he sent methe dearest thing from New York. A tiny mechanical bird with actualfeathers. And it sings! It is a really, truly yellow canary in abeautiful gold cage, and when you press a spring it perks its head,opens its beak, flirts its tail, and utters the most angelic song. Itmust have cost a fortune. Couldn't you _love_ a man who would think ofa present like that?"
"Hm-m! Could _you_?"
"Oh, I'm joking, of course," "Bob" said, seriously. "We are merelybusiness associates, Mr. Gray and I, but he has the faculty of takinghis personality into his business, and that's why I know he is bound tomake a great success."
"Some day," Nelson said, with an effort at lightness, "when we havefinished with this infernal oil excitement and the fever has subsided,perhaps I'll have a chance to--well, to play ladies' man. It won't lastlong--"
"I'm sure it won't," laughed the girl. "You'd never make a go of it,Henry."
"I mean this boom won't last. These fools think it will, but it won't.While it does last, we busy men have no time for anything else, nochance to think of anything, no room in our minds--" The speaker staredgloomily into space. He shook his head. "When a fellow is worried aboutimportant matters, he neglects the little things."
"To me that is the tragedy of this oil excitement. It devourseverything fine in us. I wonder if the 'little things' of life aren't,after all, the most important. Mind you, I'm not hinting--I don't wantyour attentions--I wouldn't have time for them, anyhow, for I'm just asfeverish as anybody else. But in the midst of all these new concerns,these sudden millions, this overnight success, our ambitious schemes,we are forgetting the things that really count. Gentleness, courtesy,love, home, children: they're pretty big, Henry. Candy and roses andyellow canaries, too. But "--the speaker rose, briskly--"I didn't comehere to talk about them; I came here to sell you an oil well. Sorry youcan't take it."
When she had gone Nelson sat in a frowning study for some time. So, itwas not all a bad dream. What could be Gray's object in buying acreageadjoining his? Was it faith in his, Nelson's, judgment, a desire toride to success on the tail of his enemy's kite, or did it mean a warof offsets, drilling operations the instant a well came in? More likelythe latter, if the maniac really meant what he had said. That promisedto be an expensive and a hazardous undertaking on Gray's part; that wasplaying the game on a scale too big for the fellow's limited resources,and yet--it might be well to study the maps. Yes, and it was likeGray's effrontery to pay deliberate court to "Bob" Parker, knowing hisrival's feelings toward the girl. Another insult! The upstart certainlypossessed an uncanny dexterity in pricking armor joints. But what ifGray were in earnest? "Bob" had become a wonderfully desirablecreature, she was the most attractive girl in Wichita Falls--
It was a thought that had not previously presented itself to HenryWilson, and it disturbed him now. He was glad, indeed, that he had sentto Ranger for that field man.
In and around the office of McWade & Stoner these were busy days, whatwith a couple of new wildcat promotions and a well going down onsemiproven ground--that lease which cornered into the Nelson holdings,and to which Stoner had called attention. It had been easy to sellstock in the latter enterprise, and now the deeper went the hole, thehigher rose the hopes of the promoters. Stoner himself was directingoperations, and he had named the well "Avenger Number One."
To-day he and his partner had been listening to Mallow, who concludedan earnest discourse with these words:
"Nelson and her are pardners in one deal and he's stuck on her. Ifanybody can put it over, she's the one."
"If he buys that well it'll be the biggest laugh this town ever had,"McWade declared.
"Buy it? A hundred and fifty barrels in the heart of settled productionfor seventy-five thousand? I bet he'll buy it."
"Think the boss will stand for that kind of a deal?"
"Why not? They can't hang it on him, and Heaven knows I'm honest."
"He said 'nothing crooked'--"
Mallow snorted. "Say, I bet you believe in Santa Claus! Gray's a greatman, and what makes him great is that he does his own crooked work."
Stoner was inclined to agree with Mallow's measure of their associate."That's how I got him figgered. His honesty talk didn't go far with me,and I don't believe he'll kick at anything. He's willing to pay anyprice to break this banker, but you can't bankrupt a feller unless yourip his coin loose; you can't _ask_ him to please loosen. If we make awell of the Avenger we'll force him to shoot maybe a hundred thousandright away, and that may cramp him for a while; but suppose he makesthe turn and hits it like we do? We've made him that much stronger,haven't we? Gray plans to keep him spending faster than he can get itin, and that's all right--if it works, but if Mallow can bilk him forseventy-five thousand at one fell swipe--Well, I'll bet my best goldtooth that the boss will stand the shock like a man."
"I think you've both got Gray all wrong," said McWade. "He's too smartto be crooked."
This was a statement so absurd that Mallow proceeded to riddle it. Itwas, upon its face, a contradiction, for none but smart men could becrooked, and the laws of logic proved the converse to be equally true.
Stoner sat in frowning silence while the argument raged, but he brokein finally: "I've always wanted to pull a real salting job, just toshow how easy it is to gyp the cagy ones--not an oil-can job like this,but something big. This looks like the piscological moment."
"Lay off, I tell you!" McWade cried. "We're a legitimate firm,' solidas Gibraltar and safe as a church.' That's our motto, and we've got tolive up to it. I came into Wichita on the roof of a Pullman; I'm goingout in a drawing-room. Me and sin are strangers."
"Nothing sinful about my idea, Mac. One fall or two won't break Nelson;we've got to spill him hard. If we can pick up a few pennies ourselvesin the process, why, that's legitimate. The dealer is entitled to hispercentage, ain't he? Now listen. Everybody's getting set
for a bigplay over in Arkansas, as you know--salting away cheap acreage andwaiting for some of the wildcats to come in. Well, last year I had atool dresser from up there; nice boy, but he got pneumonia and itturned into the 'con,' so I took him home. He's back on his farm now,coughing his life away and doing a little bootleggin' to keep body andcough together. He's got a big place, but it's all run down and so pooryou couldn't raise a dust on it with a bellows. It would be a Christianact to help him sell that goat pasture for enough to go to some nicewarm country where he'd get well and they couldn't extradite him."
"Of course, if you've got a scheme that is perfectly safe," McWadeventured, charitably, "and our bit was worth it--"
"I been thinking we might help the boy sell that farm to Nelson."
"How?"
Mallow, too, was curious. "Nelson's lungs are healthy; he wouldn'tcough a nickel unless the place had oil on it."
"I meant to tell you it's got oil on it. Best indications I ever saw.There's a drinking well, only the water ain't fit to drink till youskim off the 'rainbow.' Then there's a wonderful seepage into thecreek. You can see the oil oozing out from under the bank, in oneplace. Certainly is pretty."
Stoner's hearers were intent; they exchanged puzzled glances.
Mallow was the first to speak. "Come on. What's the joker? I ain'tsaying you'd murder the guy for that farm, but if it's as good as thathe'd of died of the plague or something, and left it to you long beforethis."
"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 thatwouldn't fool a child. As for salting _running_ water, a creek--showme."
"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 helpput it over with a man like Nelson; he'd set him in a draught while hewas 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 carryoil 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 yearwas 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'sproposition, endeavoring if possible to devise some natural way ofintriguing the interest of Henry Nelson. On this score McWade had fewerapprehensions than did his companions, his contention being that itmattered not how the matter was brought to the banker's attention solong as the property would stand investigation. Nelson was bound to besuspicious, anyhow, and a sale depended entirely upon the character ofthe oil showing. McWade's coolness toward the enterprise, ittranspired, was occasioned not by a loftier sense of rectitude than hisassociates displayed, but by lingering doubts as to the profitsinvolved.
Not until Brick declared that his tubercular friend would accede to anyarrangement he saw fit to make did the junior partner fall in with theproposal. "If it's a fair, square deal all around, I'm for it," thelatter finally agreed. "But we can't afford to have any guy squawkingthat we did him up--especially if he's only got one lung to hollerwith. We're a legitimate firm, and we've got to treat our clientsright. I think a fifty-fifty split would be reasonable."
Stoner, too, thought that would be about right, and so it was left.
Mallow was highly enthusiastic. "This will be a great surprise toGray," he said, with animation. "It's mighty lucky he's got a gang likeus to help him."