A NIGHT OF TRIUMPH
ALL HIS close friends were with Tom in the office on the memorable night
when his hopes became certainty. His father, Ned and Mr. Damon had hung
breathlessly on his final calculations, and when he at last looked up
with the triumphant smile that could mean only one thing, they were
almost as jubilant as he and overwhelmed him with congratulations.
“Bless my oil stocks!” cried Mr. Damon, slapping him on the shoulder.
“Tom, my boy, you’re a wonder.”
“You’ve got all other inventors tied to the mast and screeching for
help,” affirmed Ned, as he wrung his friend’s hand.
“I knew you would do it,” said his father quietly, as he wiped his
glasses. And to Tom this calm, affectionate assurance was the sweetest
praise of all.
“Are you sure that the patent has been attended to all right?” asked Mr.
Damon anxiously.
“You can bet,” answered Tom. “We had a wire from Reid and Crawford, our
Washington lawyers, to-day, and they tell us that everything is O. K. It
doesn’t infringe on any previous patent, and the idea of the drill is
entirely new. The lawyers themselves think it’s great.”
“The next thing, I suppose,” went on Mr. Damon, “will be to get in touch
with some of the big companies, tell them what your drill can do, give
them a demonstration and then lean back and let them bid against each
other.”
“N-no,” replied Tom thoughtfully, “I don’t think that will be the next
thing. I’m not quite ready for that.”
The whole company looked at him in surprise.
“Just what do you mean by that?” asked Ned, in a puzzled way.
“Why,” said Tom, “I’ve been thinking that I might go down to the oil
fields and take a whirl myself at oil-well digging. What’s the matter,”
he added with a grin, “with becoming a magnate on my own account?”
There was a chorus of exclamations. None had had the slightest
intimation that Tom had been thinking of anything of the kind.
“What’s put that idea into your head?” asked his father.
“I’ve been reading and thinking so much about oil lately that it’s sort
of got a grip on me,” replied Tom. “I’m eager to see the thing at first
hand. Then, too, I want to put the drill to work on a real
honest-to-goodness well. I’ll be much better qualified after that to
talk business to any one who may want to buy the invention. Then, too, I
may find that we can make more money by keeping the invention for
ourselves than we can by selling it to somebody. Of course, it’s only an
idea as yet, and I haven’t thought it through. My present impression,
however, is that I’ll go down there.”
“When do you think of going?” asked Ned.
“Just as soon as we get this oil-well machinery contract off our hands,”
was the answer. “Say, about a month from now. How would you like to go
with me, Ned?”
“I’d like it above all things,” answered Ned. “I guess we could get
things in shape so that the business would go on all right for the few
weeks we’d be gone. And your father would be here to supervise things
generally.”
“Bless my railroad ticket! I’ll go along too,” exclaimed their eccentric
friend. “I always like to keep an eye on what Tom is doing. I’ve had a
hankering, too, for a long time to see what an oil field is like. Count
me in on this. That is, of course, if you want me.”
“You bet we want you,” said Tom cordially. “It wouldn’t seem natural if
you weren’t somewhere within hail. My airplane will easily carry the
three of us.”
“Bless my life insurance! No, no,” cried Mr. Damon. “You young fellows
can go that way, but I’m a little too much under the weather just now
for that. The railroad will be plenty good enough for me this time. But
I’ll make the trip so that I’ll get there about the same time you do.”
“Why, Mr. Damon, are you really going to give up sky flying?” questioned
Tom, in surprise.
“Only this time, Tom. Bless my wings! I can’t be with you always.
Besides, I’ve got to stop off at Washington and maybe one or two other
cities on business. But, as I said before, I’ll fix it so I’ll get down
there about the same time you do.”
There was some further discussion of the matter, and when they
separated, the trip had been practically decided upon, only the exact
date remaining to be fixed later on.
The next night Tom ran up to make a call on Mary. He had been so
engrossed of late with his invention that he had been able to see her
but seldom, although there had not been a day when they had not talked
together over the telephone. But feeling toward each other as Tom and
Mary did, the telephone, they found, was a very inadequate substitute
for a face-to-face talk.
To Mary, Tom had confided the fact that he was working on a new
invention, but he had not laid much stress upon it, as he did not want
to raise her expectations so high that she would feel keenly
disappointed if it should amount to nothing.
Now, however, he had succeeded and was in high feather. He pictured to
himself the delight on her face when he should tell her of the new
invention and what he hoped from it. Her praise would be his greatest
reward. His happiness in success would be doubled by her sharing in it.
He stopped on his way to buy some candy; and flowers, and, thus
furnished, hurried along to Mary’s house and rang the bell.
Instead of a happy face it was a frightened one that Tom saw when Mary
opened the door. But it lighted with infinite relief when she saw who it
was.
“Oh, Tom, I’m so glad, so glad that you’ve come!” she exclaimed. “I
never needed you so much.”
“What’s the matter?” asked Tom, in quick alarm. “Any one sick?”
“No,” said Mary. “It’s that horrid man—that Hankinshaw. He forced
himself into the house on the pretext that he wanted to talk business
with father. He’s been drinking. He——”
But Tom had already dropped his packages. Be went into the living room
with a rush. Mrs. Nestor, pale-faced and agitated, was standing in a
corner wringing her hands. Mr. Nestor, still far from robust after his
recent illness, was expostulating with Hankinshaw and trying to push him
outside of the room.
Tom took it all in with a glance. The next instant he had grabbed
Hankinshaw by the collar and whirled him around.