I turned to Bladen. “Tell me the truth about that survey,” I said.
“Oh, to hell with the survey!” Trevedian snapped. “Why don’t you think about the people here for a change?”
“Why should I?” I cried. “What did they ever do for my grandfather except try and cash in on his discovery and then blame him when they lost their money? I might have been willing to sell, but I’ve just discovered that my grandfather knew the results of that survey. Somebody took a copy of the report up to him just before winter set in.”
“What’s that got to do with it?” James McClellan demanded.
“Just this.” My voice trembled. “In my opinion, the man who did that was responsible for my grandfather’s death. Because of that the welfare of this town is no longer a consideration as far as I’m concerned. And if I knew who’d done it—”
“If you knew, what would you do, huh?” Max Trevedian had thrust his massive body to its feet. “I took that report up. It killed him, did it? That is good.”
I stared at the foolish grin on his thick lips. “You’re mad,” I heard myself say.
“How was my brother to know what the report showed?” Peter Trevedian said. “We naturally I bought the old man would want to know the result.”
I turned to him, staring at him, “You sent your brother up with that report,” I said.
He nodded. “Yes. I sent him.”
“And how did you get hold of a second copy?” He didn’t say anything, but just stood there, smiling at me. “Did this man Henry Fergus send it to you?”
I looked round at the others. What I had seen in. his eyes was reflected in theirs, It was then I noticed that Bladen had left. Feeling suddenly sick at heart, I crossed to the door and went up to the seclusion of my room.
I must have fallen asleep, for I was suddenly startled by a knock on the door. “Come in,” I murmured.
It was Boy Bladen. He shut the door and stood there hesitantly. “I’ve just been talking to Jean. I didn’t know you’d emigrated to Canada, prepared to live up in the Kingdom and start out where Stuart had left off. Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“I didn’t see any necessity,” I murmured.
“No, of course not,” I had the feeling of something boiling up inside him. “You were outside Trevedian’s office this afternoon. How much did you hear of what we were saying?”
“Enough, I think, to understand why you agreed with the report on your survey.”
“You knew all the time I wasn’t being honest with you?”
“No,” I said. “It was only when Jean Lucas confirmed that you’d been enthusiastic about the prospects of finding oil in the Kingdom that I began to put two and two together.”
“I see.” He turned away again toward the window. “I thought you were just out to get the best price you could for the property. I thought— Hell!” he said, turning sharply and facing me. “I was scared of losing my trucks. I’ve a lot of dough tied up in that equipment and if Trevedian had refused to bring it down on the hoist—” He shrugged his shoulders.
He suddenly pulled up a chair and sat down astride it, his hands gripping the back. “Now then, about the survey I did. I formed the impression I was surveying a perfect anticline. I can’t be sure. I’d need to plot the figures I got on a seismogram. But I do know this: the report Winnick made on the figures I sent him is a lot of honey. I was never more surprised in my life than when I saw that article in the Edmonton Journal. I wrote to Louis right away, but all he said in reply was that if I cared to come and check the figures against the seismograms his office had prepared, I’d find them accurate.”
“Is he straight?”
“Louis Winnick? Straight as a die.”
“Have you checked your figures with the ones Winnick worked from?”
“I haven’t seen him. But as soon as I get back to Calgary—” He stopped. “What are you getting at?”
“Did you take the results of your survey down to Winnick yourself?”
“Of course not. We had them mailed from Keithley.”
“Yes, but how did you get them down to Keithley?”
“By the hoist. Max Trevedian was running supplies up to us, and each week—” He stopped then. “Of course. All they had to do was substitute the figures of some unsuccessful survey.” He jumped to his feet and began pacing violently up and down the room. “No wonder Trevedian needed to be sure I kept my mouth shut.” He stopped by the window and stood there, silent for a long time, drawing on his cigarette. He turned slowly and faced me, eyes alight as though he had seen a vision. “I just wanted to get my trucks and go. But now—” He half shrugged his shoulders and came toward me. “Jean said you wanted to prove Stuart right.” His voice was suddenly practical. “She said you’d got guts and you’d do it if you had someone in with you to handle the technical side. How much is a drilling operation worth to you?”
I laughed then. “All I’ve got is a few hundred dollars.”
“I don’t mean that.” He resumed his seat astride the chair facing me. “Look. If I find the capital and the equipment, will you split fifty-fifty? By that I mean fifty-fifty of oil profits resulting from drilling operations in the Kingdom.”
“Aren’t you anticipating a bit?” I said. “Even supposing your survey did show an anticline, you admit yourself it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s oil there.”
He nodded slowly. “You’re too level-headed,” he said, grinning. “All right. Let’s take it step by step. Tomorrow I’ll leave for Calgary. I’ll have a talk with Louis and look over the figures from which he prepared that report. Meantime, you get up to the Kingdom just as soon as they get the road through and the hoist working. You’ll find my trucks in one of the barns there. Somewhere in the instrument truck there are the results of the final surveys I did. Bring them down with you and mail them direct to Louis. While you’re doing that I’ll go and see old Roger Fergus. He’s always been very good to me. I used to work for him quite a lot in the old days. He’s a pretty sick man now, but if I could get him interested he might put up the dough. If I can make Roger Fergus a proposition” — he paused and lit another cigarette — “would you split fifty-fifty for the chance of proving Stuart right?”
“Of course,” I said. “But the only person you could do it with is Fergus. Otherwise we’d be up against his son’s company. Besides, Fergus owns the mineral rights.”
He turned toward the door. “You leave it to me. So long as I have your assurance that you’re prepared to split fifty-fifty?”
“Of course,” I said.
“Okay then. You let Louis have those figures just as soon as you can get them. I’ll talk to him and then I’ll see the old man. I’ll wire you as soon as I’ve any news.”
“And what about your trucks?”
“Oh, the heck with the trucks,” he grinned. “Anyway, we’ll maybe need them to cheek on the anticline.” He took hold of the handle of the door. “I’ll leave you now. Jean said you were pretty tired.”
“Good night,” I said. “And thanks for your help.”
He smiled. “Time enough to thank me when we bring in a well.”
Next morning Jean came to see me. I had just finished breakfast and was out on the veranda enjoying the warmth of the sun. “Has Boy left?” she asked.
I nodded. “He went into Keithley with Creasy this morning.” And I told her what he had planned the night before.
When I had finished she didn’t say anything for a moment, but stood staring toward the gulch of Thunder Creek and the twin peaks of Solomon’s Judgment. “I’m not surprised,” she said. “He always had a feeling about the Kingdom.”