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"Hush!" he said, addressing no one in particular. "Calamity's goin' to claim another victim!" He raised one hand to his lips, making a funnel of it. He was about to shout at the driver, but thought better of the idea and let the hand drop. "Shucks," he said, "I reckon there ain't any real danger. But I expect the boss gasser of the outfit will be gettin' his'n pretty quick now."
It so happened 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 a large check to the firm's account. "We timed it to the minute," he told McWade and Mallow. "That gasser couldn't have come in better if we'd ordered it.
It beat upon the eardrums, pierced them; men shouted at each other, but heard their own voices only faintly. Calvin Gray had recovered his senses sufficiently to understand the meaning of that uproar, and he tried to get up, but Allie held him down upon his bed. She was still struggling with him when her brother burst into the house, shouting: "It's a gasser, Mr. Gray! Biggest I ever seen."
Late that evening, after Allie had gone to bed, he had a long talk with his young friend, during which he told him more about his affairs than he had made known even to Roswell, the banker. Buddy listened with the closest attention. He drew a deep breath at last and said: "I knew you was in deep, but I thought it was just your way. Now I know it was Nelson's crew that fired our gasser.
His poise, his air of respectful but easy familiarity with this this angel raised him immensely in Buddy's esteem. Think of joking, chatting, making pretty speeches to an an angel! That was going some. The gall of it! They were talking about that big gasser of Gray's; the fire; the overflow; and the melodramatic occurrences of the past fortnight.
The speaker pondered briefly, then he said: "Shut in! Safe! Jove, it's wonderful! Buddy can take me to the railroad to-night and " "Oh, you can't leave. You're not able." "I must. This gasser was a great disappointment to me. I allowed myself to count on a big well, and now I have a serious problem to meet. It must be met without delay. Buddy will soon be back, I dare say?"
All the same, it is out, shut in, and not much damage done. You're not ruined, either, for Buddy says they're short of fuel here, and a gasser this size is worth a good deal 'most as much as a fair oil well." "How can it be shut in? It was blazing, roaring a tower of flame. The derrick itself was going " "I know, but the strangest thing " Allie spoke breathlessly. "Let me do the talking, please.
About this time a big gasser blew in north of the Louisiana fields, and wise oil men began to talk about Arkansas and quietly to gather in acreage. Less than a week later one of Nelson's field men brought into the bank a youth who owned some property in the latter state. This yokel was a sick man; he was thin and white; he had a racking cough, and he knew nothing about oil except from hearsay.
"They said it would be a big well and I counted on it." "Don't try to think " "But it came in a gasser. I remember it all now nearly all. I I'm about ruined, I guess." "No, no!" "It caught fire." "You mustn't talk. Everything is all right all right, honestly. I'll tell you everything, but just you rest now until Buddy comes." There was magnetism to the girl's touch and comfort in her voice.
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