Temple emerged, he lighted a cigar and leaned against a
pillar. The boys stood about him. For several moments he was silent,
staring out over the expanse of desert to the hills beyond, all
shimmering beneath the heat of the summer sun.
"It's a long story," he began, "but I'll simplify it for you. Rollins
held the key to the mystery. He has a family back East, an invalid
wife, a son in college, a daughter just preparing to enter college.
All that takes money, for doctor bills and school bills and clothes
for the girl. Rollins was a poor man on a salary.
"He needed money and couldn't see his way to getting it. Then a minor
official of the Octopus put temptation in his way by making him a
proposition. Mind you, he wasn't one of the big men of the Oil Trust.
I feel certain they know nothing about all this.
"This man proposed that Rollins obtain certain inside information
about the independent oil operators and sell it to him. Rollins wanted
to, but couldn't get the information. It was too closely guarded by
Mr. Hampton.
"It was then that another temptation came Rollins's way." Mr. Temple
paused. "A weak man seems to carry certain earmarks that draw
scoundrels to him, boys," he said. "It was so with Rollins.
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