CHAPTER XXIII
In a long, relentless struggle between two men psychology may play apart as important as in a campaign between two opposing armies, or soat least Calvin Gray believed. That, in fact, was one of his pettheories and from the first he had planned to test it. It wascharacteristic of Henry Nelson, on the other hand, that he put no faithwhatever in "imponderables," hence Gray's reference to morale, on thatday of their first meeting, had amused him. Morale, indeed! As if a manof his tough fiber could be affected by the mere chanting of a Hymn ofHate! He considered himself the captain of his soul, and the antics ofa malicious enemy, the wild waving of false danger signals, instead ofdistracting a resolute mariner, would merely cause him to steer a truercourse.
But Nelson was a brooder. Time came when doubts distressed him, when hebegan to put faith in "malicious animal magnetism" and, despite hisbetter sense, to wonder if some evil spell really had not been put uponhim.
In his arrogance it had seemed at first a simple matter to do away withGray. That had been mistake number one. The miserable breakdown of thatplan, the refusal of his hireling to go forward, and the impossibilityof securing a trustworthy substitute convinced him finally that he haderred grievously in his method. Some men are invulnerable to openattack, and Gray, it seemed, had been wet in the waters of the Styx.No, that had been a bad beginning and Nelson regretted it, for hefeared it had served as a warning.
So, indeed, it appeared, for not long thereafter he actually felt, orthought he felt, the vengeful claws of his enemy. A new strike in oneof the western counties had become public, and a brand-new oilexcitement was born overnight. Trains were crowded, roads were jammedwith racing automobiles; in the neighborhood of the new well ensuedscenes to duplicate those of other pools. For the first week or twothere was a frenzy of buying and selling, a speculation in oil acreageand town lots.
The Nelsons, of course, were early on the ground, for in spite of thefather's contention that they could ill afford, at the moment, to tieup more money in unproductive properties, the son had argued that theymust have "protection," and his arguments had prevailed.
Henry went in person, and he was disagreeably surprised to discoverGray on the ground ahead of him. The latter bore evidences of hardusage in the shape of a black eye and numerous bandages, reputed to bethe result of an automobile collision. Henry regretted that his enemy'sinjuries were so trivial. It was indeed a pity that so few accidentsare fatal.
He bought rapidly, right and left, as much to forestall Gray asanything else, and he was back at the bank shortly with a number ofleases. Not until some time later did he learn that he had paid a pricefor them twice as high as that charged for properties closer in.
It was Bell who brought this unwelcome information home to him--broughtit home in his characteristic manner.
"What the hell ails you, anyhow?" the father inquired, in apoplecticwrath. "Have you gone clean crazy?"
After some inquiry Henry realized what ailed him and who had caused himto throw away his money, but he did not apprise Bell. More than oncethey had been parties to "wash sales," and had helped to establishartificial values, but to be victimized in the same manner was like thetaste of poison.
Of course, it meant little in the big game. At most, the firm had been"gypped" only a comparatively few thousand dollars, and the loss couldprobably be recouped by a resale; nevertheless, the incident wassignificant, and, upon second thought, it appeared to shed light uponcertain other expensive transactions in other fields.
Now, oddly enough, this new oil discovery did not develop as had beenexpected--in fact, the excitement died out quickly--and when HenryNelson undertook to dispose of his holdings he was faced by a heavyloss, for Gray was offering adjoining acreage at low prices.
Following this unhappy experience, the scandal about the Jackson wellbecame public--the Atlantic Company having at last located the leak inits pipe line--and the whole Red River district enjoyed a great laugh.Henry Nelson did not laugh. He turned green when he realized how closehe had come to buying that lease. Of course, here was a swindle thatGray could have had nothing to do with, and yet--Nelson wondered why"Bob" Parker had failed to sell it to him. "Bob" had tied it upon anoption, awaiting his return, and he had hurried back on purpose toexamine it. Why hadn't he bought it? Henry asked that question of thegirl, and, when she told him as much as she knew, he began to believethat the whole thing was, indeed, an incredibly bold attempt to swindlehim, and him alone.
Miss Parker, of course, was deeply chagrined at her connection with thefraud; nevertheless, the banker felt his flesh turn cold at thenarrowness of his escape. He assured himself, upon calmer thought, thathis imagination was running away with him; this was too devilishlyingenious, too crooked! And besides, Gray had promised to fight fair.All the same, the thing had a suspicious odor, and Nelson slept badlyfor a few nights. He decided to use extra caution thereafter and seethat he neither paid more for leases than they were worth nor permittedanybody to "salt" him. Salting, after all, was rare; one read about itin books, but no experienced operator had ever been fooled in that way.
About this time a big gasser blew in north of the Louisiana fields, andwise oil men began to talk about Arkansas and quietly to gather inacreage. Less than a week later one of Nelson's field men brought intothe bank a youth who owned some property in the latter state. Thisyokel was a sick man; he was thin and white; he had a racking cough,and he knew nothing about oil except from hearsay. All he knew was thathe would die if he didn't get to a warmer, drier climate; but the storyhe told caused Henry Nelson to stare queerly at his field man. Thatvery night the latter left town.
On the third night thereafter, in answer to a telegram, Nelson and theArkansas farmer slipped unobtrusively out of Wichita Falls. It sohappened that Brick Stoner, en route to Hot Springs for a little rest,was a passenger on the same train.
Stoner returned in due time, much rested, and he brought with him alarge check to the firm's account.
"We timed it to the minute," he told McWade and Mallow. "That gassercouldn't have come in better if we'd ordered it. Nelson's dickeringunder cover for more acreage near what he's got, but I tipped off whohe was."
"He fell easy, eh?"
Stoner grinned. "He was so pleased with himself at swindling aninvalid, and so scared somebody would discover those seepages that hecouldn't hardly wait to sign up. If it hadn't of been for the generalexcitement, he might of insisted on time to do some exploring, but he'spulled a rig off another job and he's sending it right up."
"We've got some good news, too," McWade asserted. "Avenger Number Oneis trying hard to come in."
"No?"
"I tell you Gray's got a rabbit foot. If we continue to trail alongwith him, I'll be losing you as a partner, Brick."
"How so?"
"Why, I'll be turning honest. It seems to pay."
"Um-m. Probably I'd better keep all this Nelson money and leave you--"
"Oh, not at all," the junior partner said, quickly. "That isn't an oildeal, strictly speaking, for you say there ain't oil enough on the landto grease a jackknife. I look on it as a real-estate speculation."
With a laugh Stoner accepted this explanation, and then announced thathe was hungry for his breakfast.
This time Mallow spoke up. "I'm bally-hooing for a new joint; Fulton'sFancy Waffle Foundry. Follow me and I'll try to wedge you in. Butyou'll have to eat fast and pick your teeth on the sidewalk, for weneed the room." In answer to Stoner's stare, the speaker explained hisinterest in the welfare of Wichita Falls's newest eating place, and enroute thereto he told how Margie Fulton came to be running it. "Graydid it. He got the Parker girl to help us, and we had the place allfixed up by the time Margie got here. She's tickled pink, and it'llcoin money--if it isn't pinched."
"Pinched?"
"Sure! Bennie's the cashier, and he palms everything from dimes todishtowels. Force of habit! Better count your change till I break himof short-changing the customers."
"_You_--" Stoner stop
ped in his tracks.
"Oh, I'm giving him lessons in elemental honesty."
"My God! Are you turning honest, too?" the other man exclaimed. "Seemslike that's all I hear lately."
It was a blue day for Henry Nelson when Avenger Number One came in, forit made necessary immediate drilling operations on his part. And theworst of it was the well was not big enough to establish a high valuefor his holdings. It was just enough of a producer to force him tobegin three offsets and that, for the moment, was an undertakingdecidedly inconvenient.
Bell Nelson was even more dismayed at the prospect than was his son,for upon him fell the necessity of raising the money. "Hell of a note,"the old fellow grumbled, "when a wet well puts a crimp in us! A littlemore good luck like this and we'll go broke."
"We can't afford to let go, or to sub-lease--"
"Of course not, after the stand we've taken. There's talk on the streetabout the bank, now, and--I'd give a good deal to know where it comesfrom." The junior Nelson had heard similar echoes, but he held histongue. "I never did like your way of doing business," the speakerresumed, fretfully. "We've overreached. You wanted it all and--this isthe result."
Now Henry Nelson was warranted in resenting this accusation, for it hadever been Bell's way to pursue a grasping policy, therefore he cried,angrily:
"That's right; pass the buck. You know you wouldn't listen to anythingelse. If we're in deep, you're more to blame than I."
"Nothing of the sort." Old Bell began a profane denial, but the youngerman broke in, irritably:
"I've never won an argument with you, so have it your own way. Butwhile you're raising money for the Avenger offsets, you'd better raiseplenty, for Gray is going to punch holes down as fast as ever he can."
"Who is this Gray? What's he got against you?"
Henry's eyes shifted. "Has he got anything against me? He bought a goodlease and was wise enough to get somebody to make a well for him--"
"Those crooks! Those wildcatters!"
"Now, he proposes to develop his acreage as rapidly as possible.Nothing strange about that, is there?"
"Is he sore at you?"
"We didn't get along very well in France."
"Humph! I suppose that means you fought like hell. And now he's gettingeven. By the way, where am I going to get this money?"
"That is up to you," said Henry, with a disagreeable grin, whereuponhis father stamped into his own office in a fine fury.
Not long after this father and son quarreled again, for of a sudden aperfect avalanche of lawsuits was released, the mysterious origin andpurpose of which completely mystified Old Bell. The Nelsons, likeeverybody else, had unsuccessfully dabbled in oil stocks and drillingcompanies for some time before the boom started, also during its earlystages, and most of those failures had been forgotten. They werepainfully brought to mind, however, when Henry was served with a dozenor more citations, and when inquiry elicited the reluctant admissionfrom the bank's attorney that a genuine liability existed--a liabilitywhich included the entire debts of those defunct joint-stockassociations in which he and his father had invested. This was enoughto enrage a saint.
Henry argued that he had invariably signed those articles ofassociation with the words, in parentheses, "No personal liability,"and he was genuinely amazed to learn that this precaution had beenuseless. He protested that scores--nay, hundreds--of other people werein the same fix as he, and that if this outrageous provision of the lawwere strictly enforced and judgments rendered widespread ruin wouldresult. His lawyer agreed to this in all sympathy, but read aloud theprovisions of the statute, and Nelson derived no comfort from thereading. The lawyer was curious to know, by the way, who had taken thetrouble to acquire all of these claims--a task of heroic size--butabout all the encouragement he could offer was the probability of along and expensive series of legal battles, the outcome of which wasproblematical. That meant annoyance, at best, and a possible impairmentof credit, and the Nelson credit right now was a precious thing, asHenry well knew. Eloquently he cursed the day he had met Calvin Gray.What next, he wondered.
He discovered what next when the driller he had sent up to Arkansas incharge of his rig one day came into the office in great agitation. Theman's story caused his employer's face to whiten.
"_Salted!_ I--don't believe it." Nelson seized his head in his hands."Oh, my God!" he gasped. Misfortunes were coming with a swiftnessincredible. Salted! Victimized, like the greenest tenderfoot! A smallfortune sunk while the whole country was still chuckling over theJackson scandal! This _was_ a nightmare.
Henry was glad that his father was in Tulsa in conference with someother bankers over that Avenger offset money, otherwise there was notelling to what extreme the old man's rage would have carried him atthis final calamity. And that whining, coughing crook, that bogusfarmer, was in Arizona--or elsewhere--out of reach of the law! Theyounger Nelson turned desperately sick. If this was not more of Gray'swork, it was the direct result of the curse he had called down.
"Does anybody know?" Henry inquired, after he had somewhat recoveredhis equilibrium.
"Nobody but us fellows."
"You--you mustn't shut down. You've got to keep up the bluffuntil--until I get time to turn."
"You going to bump off that land to somebody else?"
"What do you think I'm going to do?" Nelson was on his feet now andpacing his office with jerky strides. "Take a loss like that?" Hepaused and glared at the bearer of bad tidings, then growled: "What areyou grinning about? Oh, you needn't say it. You want yours, eh? Is thatit?"
"Well--it's worth something to turn a trick like this."
"How much?"
"It's a big deal. It'll take something substantial--somethingsubstantial and paid in advance--to make our boys forget all theinteresting sights they've seen. But I'd rather leave the amount toyou, Henry. You know me; I wouldn't be a party to a crooked deal, notfor anything, except to help you out--"
"How much?" the banker repeated, hoarsely.
But the field man merely smiled and shrugged, so, with a grunt ofunderstanding, Henry seated himself and wrote out a check to bearer,the amount of which caused him to grind his teeth.
Now it was impossible to dispose of a large holding like that Arkansastract at a moment's notice. In order to evade suspicion, it wasnecessary to go about it slowly, tactfully, hence the financier movedwith as much circumspection as possible. His careful plans exploded,however, when he met Calvin Gray a day or so later.
Gray had made it an invariable practice to speak affably to his enemyin passing, mainly because it so angered the latter; this time heinsisted upon stopping. He was debonair and smiling, as always, butthere was more than a trace of mockery in his tone as he said:
"So your luck has changed, hasn't it? That Avenger well of mine has puta good value on your property. I congratulate you, Colonel."
"Humph! I don't believe in luck," Nelson mumbled. "And the Avengerisn't enough of a well to brag about."
"So? You don't believe in luck? It seems to be our lot invariably todiffer, doesn't it? Now, my dear Colonel, I'm not ashamed to confessthat I am deeply superstitious, and that I believe implicitly in signsand prodigies. You see, I was born under a happy star; 'at my nativitythe front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,' as it were. Comfortablefeeling, I assure you. Take that incident at New-town, not long ago;doesn't that prove my contention?"
"What incident?"
Gray's brows lifted whimsically. "Of course. How should you know? Therewas a clumsy attempt to do me bodily harm, to--assassinate me. Funny,isn't it? So ill considered and so impracticable.--But about thisAvenger matter, if you find it inconvenient to offset my wells as fastas I put them down, perhaps you'd consider selling--"
"_Inconvenient?_" Nelson felt the blood rush to his face at thisinsufferable insult, but he calmed himself with the thought that hisopponent was deliberately goading him. After all, it served him rightfor permitting the fellow to stop him. "Inconvenient! Ha!" He turnedaway carelessly.
&nb
sp; "No offense, my dear Colonel. I thought, after your Arkansas fiasco,you might wish--"
"What Arkansas fiasco?" Nelson wheeled, and in spite of himself hisvoice cracked.
"Ah! Another secret, eh?" Gray winked elaborately--nothing could havebeen more deliberately offensive than that counterfeit of a friendlyunderstanding. "Very well, I sha'n't say a word."
"You--" The banker was gasping. "You're doing your damnedest to--tostart something, aren't you?"
"Every day. Every hour. Every minute." The speaker bowed. "In defenseof my promise to fight fair, let me assure you, however, that I did notstart this. As a matter of fact, I knew nothing about it until you hadbeen hooked. Apropos of that quixotic promise, please remember thatyour own actions have absolved me from it."
The men stared at each other for a moment that seemed interminable.Gray was watchful, expectant; Nelson was plainly shaken by a desire sodesperate that resistance left him weak. He was like an animal frozenin the very attitude of springing.
"Foxy, aren't you?" he managed to say, at last. "Tempting me to--makethe first move." With a mighty effort of will he forced his tense bodyto relax. "The act of a bully! Bah! Wouldn't I be a fool--"
"A bully is usually a coward," Gray said, slowly. "Neither of us is acoward. I'm not ready to--join the issue that way, especially in aplace like this. The game is too exciting to--"
"You'll get all the excitement you're looking for," Nelson cried,wrathfully. "You've cost me a lot of money, but you could have cost mea lot more if you hadn't been fool enough to brag about it and give mewarning. Now--I'll send you out of Texas afoot."
"On my back, perhaps, but never on my feet."
Without another word the banker passed on, but he went blindly, for hismind was in black chaos. No chance now for secrecy; he was in for a bitof hell. He managed to kill the story in the local papers, but itappeared in the Dallas journals, which was even worse, and for thefirst time in his life he found himself an object of ridicule. TheArkansas transaction was made to appear the most outrageous swindle ofrecent oil history, and, coming so quickly after the Jackson exposure,it excited double interest and amusement.
In truth, the facts about the salting of that Arkansas tract did make astory, for the methods employed had been both new and ingenious. Nelsonhad been fooled by a showing of oil in an ordinary farm well, and by agenerous seepage into a running stream some distance away. Not until aconsiderable sum had been spent in actual drilling operations, however,did those seepages diminish sufficiently to excite suspicionsufficiently, in fact, to induce the crew to pump the water well dry.This done, an amazing fraud had been discovered. It had been found thatthe vendor of the land had removed the rock curbing and behind it hadpacked a liberal quantity of petroleum-soaked cotton waste. Naturally,when the well had been walled up again and permitted to resume itsnatural level, the result was all that the unscrupulous owner couldhave expected.
The creek seepage had turned out to be equally counterfeit, but evenmore ingeniously contrived. It had manifested itself where a stratum ofclean white sand, underlaid with clay, outcropped at the foot of a highbank. In the undergrowth, quite a way back from the stream, tardyinvestigation disclosed that a hole had been dug down to that layer ofsand and into the hole had been poured several barrels of "crude." Theearth from the digging had been removed and the hole had been cunninglycovered up. Naturally, the oil from this reservoir had followed thesand stratum and--the resultant phenomenon at the water's edge had beenwell calculated to excite even the coldest-blooded observer. It hadexcited Henry Nelson to such an extent that he had bought not only thisfarm, but a lot of other farms. And Nelson was shrewd. Oh, it was agreat joke! The whole mid-continent field rocked with laughter at it.
Nelson, senior, returned from Tulsa bull-mad, and he came without themoney he had expected to get. What went on in his office that morningafter he sent for his son none of the bank's employees ever knew, butthey could guess, for the rumblings of the old man's rage penetratedeven the mahogany-paneled walls.