Later it would be revealed that they'd struck a pipeline carrying ink to the newspaper, but for a while everyone was pleased. Then they discovered real oil, and the area started to boom. Cows were covered in the stuff. It was impossible to milk them; your hands slid right off the teat.

After a lot of thought, Jim made what he would later call "the stupidest goddamn thing I ever did in my life." Back home, his girlfriend never married, his brother died, an old druggist poisoned someone, and the mean banker took over the town.