Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1931-11-26

caught up In the oil flood. and never
went back. With his geological knowl-
edge, slight as II was. and his famil-
1arity with the region. he was shuttled
back and forth from one end OF the
state TO the other. Clirlously enough
Gin. like his father. was more an on
locker than participant In this fam
tastic spectacle. The quality OF BUSH
ness acnmen seemed To be lacking In
both these men. or perhaps certain
mad fastidl0nsness In them kept them
from taking part In the feversh fight.
A hint of oil In this corner. trace OF
oil In that and the thousands were
upon II, pushing. scrambling. nose to
the ground, down on all-fours like pigs
In trough. A hundred times Yancey
could have bought an oil lease share
for a song. Head lolling on his breast.
lids lowered over the lightning eyes,
he shrugged Indifferent shoulders
Il don't want the filthy muck" he
said. ut stinks Let the Indians have
It It's theirs. And the Big Boys from
the East-let them sweat and scheme
for 1t. They know where Oklahoma Is
now. all right"
His comings and goings had ceased
to cause Sabra the keen agony of
earlier days. She knew now that their
existence. so long askYancey lived,
would always be made up of just such
unexplained absences and melodra-
matte homecomings. She had made up
her mind to accept the inevitable.
She did not mind that Yancey spent
much time on the oil fields He knew
the men he called the big Boys from
the East. and they often sought him
out for his company. which they found
amusing. and for a certain regional
wisdom that they considered Valuable.
lie despised them anil spent most Of
his time with the bumpers and roust-
abonts, drillers and tool dressers and
shooters-a hard-drinking. hard-talk-
Ing. hard-fighting crew In his white
6ombrero and his otfslated Prince Al
bert and lis highheeleti honts he was
known us picturesque character
Years OF heavy drinking we're taking
their toll Of the magnificent body and
mind The long locks showed streaks
Of gray.
Local townsmen who once had
fnnr -
patronize him or to laugh at him, toll
erantly. Many Of them were rich now,
counting their riches not in thousands
but In millions They had owned
piece Of Oklahoma dirt, or piece OF a
piece Of dirt-and suddenly, through
no act Of theirs. 1t was worth its
weight In diamonds. Pat Leary. the
pugnacious little Irish lawyer who had
once been a section hand in the early
days of the building OF the Santa Fe
road, was now so rich through his vast
oil holdings that his Indian wife,
Crook Nose, was considered quaint
and picturesque note by the wives OF
eastern operators who came down on
oil business
After the first shrill excitement of
1t Sabra Cravat relinquished the hope
OF making sudden millions as other
luckier ones had done. Her land had
yielded no oil; she owned no oil leases.
1t was a curious fact that Sabra still
Queened 1t In Usage and had actually
become power in the state. The
paper was read, respected. and feared
throughout the Southwest 1t was
said with pride BIZ Osage's civic mind
ed that no oil was rich enough to stain
the pages OF the Oklahoma Wigwam
Though few realized 1t, and though
Sabra herself never admitted 1t, 1t was
Yancey who had made this true. He
neglected 1t for years together. but he
always turned up in crisis, whether
political. economic. or social. to hurl
his barbed editorials at the heads OF
the offenders, to sting with the poison
OF his ridIcule. He championed the
Indians, he denounced the oil kings,
he laughed at the money grabbers.
he exposed the land thieves. He was
afraid Of nothing. He would absent
himself for six months. The Wigwam
would run along smoothly, nlacidly.
lie would return, torch In hand, and
again set fire to the paper until the
town, the county. the state were
ablaze. The Osages came to him with
their legal problems. and he advised
them soundly and took d minimum fee.
He seemed always to sense an I'M
portant happening from afar and to
emerge. growing like an old lion, from
his hidden jungle lair, broken, NANCY,
but fighting, the fine eyes still alight,
the magnificent head still as menacing
as that Of buffalo charging. He had.
on one occasion, come back Just In
time to learn OF Dixie Lees death.
Dixie had struck oil and had re-
ired, rich woman. She had closed
Ter house and gone to Oklahoma City.
md there she bought house in de-
ent neighborhood and adopted baby
drL She had gone to Kansas City
or It, and though she had engaged a
Apable and somewhat bewildded
Iurse on that trip. Dixie herself car.
led the child home In her arm1 Its