This guileless confession evoked a positive scowl. "What have you done," the banker sneered, "except get your name in the papers?"
"I have made a large amount of money, for one thing, and I am having a glorious time. Now that Evans lease, for instance—"
"Oh! You've come to crow about that."
"Not loudly, but a little. I turned the greater part of that land for as much as five thousand dollars an acre. Odd that we should have come into competition with each other on my very first undertaking, isn't it? Fascinating business, this oil. All one needs, to succeed, is experience and capital."
"What do you know about the business?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. But I am learning. Luck, I find, is a good substitute for experience, and I certainly am lucky. As for capital—of course I was blessed in having unlimited money with which to operate. You inferred as much, I take it. Of course! Yes, Colonel, I have the money touch and everything I have put my hand to has turned out well."
Nelson burst forth in sudden irritation. "What are you getting at? You know I don't care a damn what you're doing, how much money you're making—"
"Strange! Inasmuch as practically every dollar I have made has come out of you, indirectly."
For a moment Nelson said nothing; then, "Just what do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I said. I've cut under you wherever possible. When you wanted acreage, I bid against you and ran the price up until you paid more than it was worth. That which I secured I managed—"