"
Hardy was delighted. "You mean the highest bidder will not only get the
place but that you'll show him where the oil is besides?"
"_Si._ Is it so agree?"
"I'm for that," Pell said.
"But I--" Hardy began.
"I bid one hundred thousand dollars," Pell quickly cried.
"I'll take it to the courts," Hardy contended.
"Take what to the courts?" Pell wanted to know.
"I was detained by force," Hardy said.
"As long as I get there by eight, what difference does that make?" Pell
asked.
But Lopez broke in: "One hundred sousand I am offer!" They mustn't
shillyshally this way. He wanted to keep things going.
"I'll make it one hundred and one!" Hardy cried.
Without a moment's hesitation, Pell jerked it up to a hundred and ten.
"A hundred and eleven!" Hardy pushed ahead.
"A hundred and twenty-five!" Pell yelled. "And what do you know about
that?"
Hardy was by no means finished. "A hundred and thirty!" he made it.
Uncle Henry couldn't stand it. While they raised each other's bids, he shot
in between them and managed to say above the din, "And me--gettin' skinned
not only out of my ten thousand, but a million dollars besides!"
"A hundred and fifty!" Pell was saying.
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