With a show of some embarrassment, the inventor displayed his tester, a sufficiently impressive device with rubber handles and a resistance coil attached to a dry battery, which he carried in his pocket.
Gray looked on as the comedy was played out.

It transpired that Professor Mallow had tested, among other properties, the newest McWade-Stoner lease, a company to drill which had just been formed under the title of "The Desert Scorpion," and he really judged from the behavior of his machine that a remarkable pool underlaid the tract.

He was willing to risk his reputation upon the guaranty that the first well would produce not less than three thousand barrels a day.

He was interested in the out-come only from a scientific standpoint; he owned not one single share of stock.

Then McWade resumed his sway over the crowd, and soon shares in "The Desert Scorpion" were selling rapidly.
Shortly after lunch, Mallow and the two partners were seated in the office upstairs, their work done for the day.