Conrad

This is an action to quiet title to real estate in Orange County, fee title to which is vested in respondents. Appellants are here on appeal from a judgment in favor of respondents.

Appellants asserted an interest in the property and the right to the possession thereof by virtue of an oil lease executed by respondents as lessors to J. D. Hawk, as lessee, assigned by him to the Bruce Oil Company and by it to appellants as trustees for the Bruce Oil Company and its creditors. The oil lease contained the usual provisions requiring drilling operations be started within a specified time and be prosecuted continuously and diligently until the well reached a specified depth unless oil were found in paying quantities at a lesser depth. It also provided that in case of a default in any conditions of the lease, except as to time in which drilling operations should be started, the lessors should give the lessee notice of such default and unless it were remedied within thirty days, they might proceed to a forfeiture of the lease at their option.

The Bruce Oil Company drilled a well to a depth of over 4,330 feet on the property, when it encountered mechanical difficulties in its drilling…