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 His options, obtained from men little versed in business, ran for extraordinary periods…. In this way it was possible for him to take the necessary time to prove the existence of oil before being obliged to pay the large sums necessary to obtain the fee to much of the property he had contracted to acquire. And he was positive he could sell these options before they expired. With, say, twenty-five thousand dollars expended in options one can control a large tract of land….

By hook or by crook he had secured money in excess of this amount. Everything he owned was pledged, hypothecated. His personal credit was rather more than exhausted. Perhaps, of all the inhabitants of Rainbow, Angus Burke alone knew how Judge Crane had strained himself—how precarious was his footing. Angus had analyzed the speculation, saw how the whole matter dangled by a hair and how thin was the hair. As it appeared to Angus, Crane had wagered a matter of twenty-five thousand dollars that oil would be found in sufficient quantities—and he knew Crane could not lose twenty-five thousand dollars. He had not that sum to lose. Therefore, in the event of a crash, somebody else would have to bear the major portion of the loss. He saw to it that the bank should not suffer—and when approached for advice by sundry