Roxy Hastings — page 33: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

tres 3 . ar Py ARN aia a WI, Bet Le ee eB Te ee eR Dg Ao ee ee Oe 7 A” ind ye Aah Art ites UF vent : Y) teie a . . jwit ge 4.4.4 <0 . an ’S . ; 24 : ROXY HASTINGS. “At any rate,” added Sharp, ‘‘the Binghams seem to have it all to themselves. They’ve struck the reservoir where the oil:from the coal around here has all settled, and they’ll soon have it all up.” This conversation was at supper table, where, beside the parties who have been named, was the squire’s wife (an anxious looking woman, whose eyes wandered from face to face of the speakers, and rested occasionally with a pitying look upon young Lee), two coarsely clad and evi- dently hard-working girls, and a clownish but rather humorous son, who was aman of twenty-two or twenty- three years. “T know aman,” said Farmer Rooke, “who don’t believe this here is coal ile at all. “What then?” asked Sharp. ‘He says it’s the ile that’s put down to grease the axle of the ’arth, and that it shouldn’t ought to be taken out, because the ’arth will stop goin’ round after it’s all gone.” A laugh followed, and the speculators laughed loudest. ‘ Let it stop,” said one of them. ‘‘I don’t know as that would hurt anybody.” | “Well, [1 tell you what I have been thinkin’ ’bout it,” said the clownish young man, with a comical look. ‘‘I’ve read somewhere that the earth was nothin’ but a great fish, swimming about in the air, like. Now, mebbe it’s a whale, you see, and we live somewhere near the head, where the ile is.” : “Stop your tomfoolery, Joe.” , “Well, I will, only what I want to ask, is this—that if folks keep a borin’ deep wells into the critter, by and by mebbe she won’t stand it, and she may take a dive down- ward, and then where’ll we all be?” Another laugh followed this question, and then Sharp asked the justice if he kept blanks for conveyances, and knew how to fill out a deed. “Oh, yes,” was the reply; “Ido that kind of business sometimes.” | ‘‘I expect we shall want one drawn after tea, if Mr. Sligh or Mr. Lee haven’t changed their minds.” “Pm getting rather dubious about it myself,” said Sligh, and Charley looked quite alarmed.” : “Well, the deed can be filled up and be ready,” replied Sharp; “nobody is bound till it’s signed and the money paid, I’m beginning to hesitate myself about giving over five hundred.” The deed was made out after a full hour’s labor on the comicbooks com