chance to make some money."

Gray stirred slightly in his chair and regarded the speaker more
keenly.

"When oil come in at Ranger, nobody thought it would get out our
way, but Ma had a dream--a lot of dreams--about oil on our farm,
so I got an outfit to come there an' drill. Folks thought we was
crazy, and we didn't expect they'd find much, ourselves--a few
bar'l a day would of looked big--but I allus had ambitions to be
good an' rich, so I got options on quite a bit of acreage. It
didn't take no money at the time, 'cause land was what people had
most of. Along with the rest, there's a hundred an' sixty right
next to ours--hill stuff that wouldn't feed a goat. It's wuth a
lot of money now, but the option's 'most run out."

"When does it expire?"

"Saturday."

"That's to-morrow."

Gus Briskow nodded. "It's cheap at a thousand dollars an acre, an'
it costs two hundred."

"Of course you'll take it."

"Nope."

"Why not?"