His drill had struck through soft gravel to an oil pool lying close to the surface, and the black tide gushed crazily.
Young Jimmy sat back watching the dark jet that he had no means of stemming or containing, and through his simple soul flowed all the intoxication of triumph.
He was the discoverer of a new—and palpably a rich field!
Hereafter oil men would speak of the Snake Creek field as copper men spoke of Anaconda or gold men of the Yukon.
And that night word went by wire to the opportunity 300 hound who had just gone east, that the “fur” side was to the “nigh” side as gold is to silver.
“What do you make of it?” demanded Harrison, when Spurrier, secure in his seeming of undaunted assurance, arrived at his office and the response came smilingly: “I think it means a bluff.”
“Read that,” snapped the financier as he flung a letter across his desk.
Spurrier took the sheet of paper and read in a hand, evidently disguised!
You find yourself in a cul-de-sac. I hold the key to a way out. My terms are definite and determined in advance. I shall be at your office at noon, Tuesday. We will do business at that time, or not at all.