Texas by the Tail

take no comfort in his triumph. It had cost too much. He loved her too much.

As they neared the apartment house, he told her that he was going to let her go up by herself; and she looked at him frightened. But he smiled reassuringly.

'We both need to get pulled together a little. So let's do it, and then we'll forget it ever happened.'

Red bit her lip, blinking back the tears. She told him not to be so d-damned nice. 'It's your own fault, d-doggone you! Y-You-you sh-shouldn't have-'

'I shouldn't have asked you to take me on trust,' Mitch agreed smoothly. 'I'll never do it again, baby.'

'Wha-at?' She turned on him, blazing. 'Don't you dare say that!'

'But you-'

'Hush! You just hush!'

She almost ran into the apartment house, legs flashing in their seamless hose.

Mitch drove back to town.

In a secluded booth of a swank restaurant, he met and lunched with Agate, explaining the potential deal with Zearsdale and asking for help in swinging it. Agate considered it, munching a bite of cherry torte. When he had swallowed it and taken a sip of coffee, he shook his head.

'No can do, Mitch. The deal would have to go through the bank, which would mean references, et cetera, or heavy collateral.'

'But the stock's collateral in itself.'

'Oh, come on, now. You don't have the stock until the money's been transferred.'

'But you can keep it all in escrow. When you pay the money, you take the stock. Where's the risk in that?'

Agate conceded that there wasn't any. But it was still no soap. 'It's one of those things you can do if you already have money, Mitch. If you were the substantial citizen, that is, that Zearsdale thinks you are. As it is, well, they'd try to check it out with him, which would start him to checking on you. And you'd probably wind up with something you wouldn't like.'

Mitch grinned wryly. 'A hell of a note, isn't it, Lee? If I want to throw a curve, you're my boy. But I bring you something strictly legit, and you're not at home.'

'Mmm-mmm.' Agate had filled his mouth again. 'Good lunch, Mitch.'

'Lee… I could move the whole thing in one day. Get the money from you in the morning, cash in the stock, and have it back to you by closing time.'

'Whuh!' The banker sprayed crumbs from his mouth, eyes bulging with horror. 'Don't say things like that, Mitch!'

'I'd cut the juice right through the center, Lee. Seventy-five G's for each of us.'

'Don't! Not another word!' Agate shuddered visibly. 'My God, man! How could you even ask me to take a hundred thousand dollars of the bank's money, and turn it over to a- uh-'

Mitch knew it was no use, yet something beyond the knowledge pushed him on. 'You know me, Lee. You know I wouldn't pull a fast one on you…'

'No, Mitch. No, no, no!'

'Why, hell, you could go along with me for that matter. What could be more logical? Seventy-five grand just for taking a little walk with me!'

'No, sir! I don't walk anywhere with the bank's money!'

'Well, use your own, then. You could raise it, couldn't you? Well? It's the chance of a lifetime, Lee! Seventy-five thousand dollars for doing absolutely nothing!'

'Nothing?' Agate laughed a little angrily. 'Putting up a hundred thousand is nothing?'

'Not for a man like you. Not in view of your profit.'

'Well…'

Mitch saw that he was weakening. Glory to God, he was weakening. And taking very careful aim, he threw in the hook.

'Well, forget it, Lee. There's a couple of other prospects I can probably get it from.'

'No, now wait!' Agate said. 'I-I think I can do it. It's eighty-five thousand net, right? Actually eighty-five instead of a hundred.'

'Eighty-five? What do you-' Mitch broke off. 'Oh, yes. I promised you fifteen for this morning, didn't I?'

Agate said that fifteen was right. 'You know, I only swing about once a year now. If something doesn't look extra good, I don't touch it.'

'This wasn't a caper, Lee. The fifteen is a flat loss to me.'

'If you say so,' Agate shrugged. 'Either way, you had me stretched too far for comfort. If anyone else had phoned me to snatch up a hundred and twenty-five thousand on less than a hour's notice, I'd have told 'em to go jump.'

'It was an emergency, Lee.'

'I know. So,' Agate smiled with a trace of nervousness. 'With the eighty-five I get together, and the fifteen you give me now…'

'Mmm, yes,' Mitch nodded, 'that will make it, won't it? How soon can you get your end together?'

'That isn't the question, Mitch. Not right at the moment, it isn't.'

'Oh?'

'No.' Agate's eyes gleamed coldly behind the rimless glasses. 'And if you were about to ask me if I'm worried about getting the fifteen thousand, I'll say no again. I don't have to worry. I know too much about you.'

The change that had come over him was amazing. A change so pronounced that the cozy quiet of the restaurant seemed suddenly ominous. He drummed on the table, waiting, watching, his lips tightening into a thin, colorless line. He watched and waited, no longer the amiable, almost priggish acquaintance, but now revealed as the calculating whore he essentially was.

Mitch smiled at him winsomely. 'Give me a few days, will you, Lee? I'm a little short this trip.'

'That wasn't the agreement, Mitch.'

'I honestly can't help it, Lee. My God, you know I'm good for it!'

'A man like you,' said Agate, 'is good only as long as he keeps his promises.'

Mitch would have said the same thing himself, generally speaking. But he hadn't thought that Agate would play it so tough. 'All right, Lee,' he said, 'I should have told you it would be a few days. Only a couple, actually. But you don't mind, do you, as long as you know you're going to get it?'

'Do I have a choice?'

The banker wadded his napkin, laid it on the table and stood up. Mitch also arose, picking up the check, but Agate plucked it from his fingers.

'Sometime when you're not so hard up, Mitch. Say two days from now.'

'Aah, Lee…' Mitch winced. 'I wish you wouldn't take it like this.'

'Fifteen thousand. You'd better have it, Mitch.'

He turned and walked away, fitting a Homburg over his pinkish scalp. Mitch looked after him, glumly, knowing that he would have to have the fifteen on the line. Knowing that he had lost his one chance to pick up the Zearsdale option.

13

Many Texas fortunes are old to the point of antiquity, their origins dating back to the copquistadores and huge Spanish land-grants. The founders were cattle-raisers-beef cattle; so also were their descendants, even to the present day. The discovery of oil was looked upon as a by no means lucky accident. It was 'stinky stuff,'