up the Road in good order as he turned once more to the men in the
store.

But the advent of the Swarm had served to remind the group of his
friends that the time for the roof-tree gathering was fast
approaching, and Mr. Crabtree was busy filling half-forgotten supper
orders for impatient waiters, while most of the men had gone up or
down the Road in the wake of the scattering Swarm. For a few minutes
the Senator and Everett were left on the porch steps alone.

"I hear from some of the men that you have been able to do some
prospecting in the last weeks, Mr. Everett," remarked the Senator
casually from behind the veil, as he accepted and lighted a cigar.

"Just knocked around a bit," answered Everett carelessly. "The whole
Mississippi Valley is interesting geologically. There is quite a
promise of oil here, but practically no outcrop."

"Your examination been pretty thorough--professional?" queried the
Senator, still in an equally careless voice, though his little eyes
gleamed out of their slits.

"Oh, yes, I thrashed it all out, especially Mr. Alloway's place. I'd
like to have found oil for him--and the rest of Sweetbriar, too, but
it isn't here." Everett spoke decidedly, and there was a note in his
voice as if to end the discussion. His own eyes he kept down on his
cigar and, as he lounged against a post he had an air of being
slightly bored by an uninteresting shop topic. The Senator looked at
him a few seconds keenly, started to make a trivial change in the
conversation, then made a flank movement, bent toward Everett and