Roxy Hastings — page 57: what you’re looking at

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

48 vines ROXY HASTINGS. necessary. And perhaps old ‘Incog’ will be around again before long with something for you.” ; “Old Incog! For shame, Charles, to speak so disrespect- fully of our benefactor,” replied Laura. “Well, let him tell his name, then. What else can we call him ?” “Mr. Incognito, to be sure.” So the happy family rattled on in the excitement of} their first joy. see! Two weeks later they moved into a pleasant house, which they had obtained at a moderate rent, and which they furnished neatly but not extravagantly, for although young Lee’s property might be said to be increasing in value hourly, he was resolved to exhibit no outward evi- dence of the great prosperity which seemed in store for him. ) With Mr. Ogilvie he was preparing’ to send out an engine, a derrick, etc., with a company of laborers and an engineer, to their oil land, for they were resolved to have a deep well in operation on their property before forming a company and disposing of stock. Some further explora-— tion had already been made by an agent who had been sent on, and who, without much machinery, had succeeded in putting down an iron pipe to a considerable depth near the salt well which has been spoken of, and which had been so carefully avoided by Messrs. Sharp and Sligh when conducting the young proprietor over his land. The result had been so marked in the flow of oil, which had been stopped after a few hours’ experiment, that when the agent sent his report home Mr. Ogilvie was offered and refused for a quarter of his interest in the property a sum equal to all that he had paid Mr. Lee. * You could sell out for forty thousand to-day,” he said to Charley ; ‘‘and I will give you five thousand down for the refusal of your interest for a month at one hundred thousand dollars. Still I advise you not to take it.” ; “You will give it?” asked the young man. Ogilvie drew his check-book toward him. “Say the word, and that instant it is done!” “Never mind. J’ll hang on to it, I guess. -It looks as though it was going to be a sort of an Aladdin’s lamp to both of us.” “It will be, sir, it will be! I don’t want to make money out of you. Let us work together.” | Dazzled by his prospects, Charley could scarcely keep his secret, but his purpose was fixed to do so if possible. Eomicbooks.co