"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?" "Per one thing, I got a lot of other land just as good an' mebbe better, an' I been takin' it up out of the royalties that come in. We got enough sure money in sight to do us, but I promised Ma to play safe, an'--we can't take everything. You kin have that option, Mister Gray, for nothin'. You kin sell the lease inside of a week an' make fifty thousand dollars, or you kin hold it an' make mebbe a million. All it'll cost you is thirty-two thousand dollars. I don't make a cent out of it." "Thirty-two thousand dollars! Not much, is it?" "It ain't nothin' to a man like you." Gray nodded and smiled queerly as he thanked the nester, then from his pockets he removed several crumpled wads of currency and a handful of silver. These he counted before saying: "What capital I have is entirely liquid--it's all in cash. There is eighty-seven dollars and forty-three cents. It is every dollar in the world that I possess." "Huh?" Gus Briskow's bright eyes searched the smiling countenance before him. "You're--jokin'. I thought you said you was rich." "I am rich. I don't owe a nickel, and won't, until my hotel bill is due, day after to-morrow. I'm in full possession of all my faculties. I'm perfectly healthy and cheerful. I know men who would pay a million dollars for my health alone, and another million to enjoy my frame of mind. That's two million--" "Well--doggone _me_!" There was a pause, then the speaker brightened. "Mebbe you'll take Buddy, after all? You kin set your own wages." Gray shook his head. "There are two good reasons why I couldn't accept, even if I wished. I've told you one; I'm too fond of you Briskows to risk ruining Buddy." "What's the other one?" "A purely personal reason. I have a definite something to do here in Texas. Before I can accomplish it, I shall have to make a lot of money, but that I shall do easily. I make money rapidly when I start." "You gotta git goin' afore long." Briskow allowed his eyes to rove about the spacious Governor's suite. "'Specially with only eighty-seven forty--"