"Then you mean to say that you think your claim on the land is just as good as mine?" asked Jack's father.
"My claim is just as good, and maybe better. But I don't want to have any trouble. I figure that it will cost about thirty thousand dollars to sink a well on that land. Now why not go in together? We've got ten thousand dollars, and if you'll put up the other twenty thousand we can try our luck and see what comes of it."
"I'm not admitting that your claim is a good one," answered Dick Rover. "I'll know more about it in a few days."
"Why, what are you going to do?"
"When Lorimer Spell died he left me everything he possessed, and that included some things left in a safe deposit box at a bank in Wichita Falls. I am going to get that box and see if there are any documents in it relating to this claim. Then I'll know exactly how I stand in this matter. Until that time I sha'n't make any sort of a deal."
This was Dick Rover's final decision so far as it concerned Davenport, and the latter went off looking anything but pleased.
"He'll get the best of you if he can, Dad," remarked Jack, after the interview was over.
"I don't doubt it in the least, Son."
"What's the next move, if I may ask?" questioned Fred. The oil well proposition was beginning to interest him tremendously.
"I am going to take the first train for Wichita Falls to-day," answered his uncle. "I guess you boys can get along here until I get back."