STRIKING OIL--CONCLUSION
"You're right! They did!" exclaimed the chief of police. "They got away
from you, and they're here now to prefer charges against you and the
other scoundrels. I place you all under arrest," and he drew his
revolver, the officer doing likewise.
"There's no necessity for that," said the man who had called himself the
King of Paprica. "We're not going to make any trouble."
"You'd better not," said the chief significantly.
"I can explain it all now," the man went on.
"About kidnaping these boys?" demanded Mr. Wilding.
"I didn't kidnap 'em," spoke Captain Needham, "they came aboard and were
glad enough to. I had to hold 'em a while, and sorry enough I was to do
it."
"You'll be sorrier before we're through with you," remarked the chief.
"Gentlemen, perhaps I had better explain," said the man whom the boys
had seen wearing the gilt crown.
"We'll give you a chance," said Mr. Wilding.
"In the first place we owe you boys an apology," the man went on.
"We'll make it a substantial one too, as you will see, but first let me
introduce myself. My name is Patrick Ricka, and I am interested in oil
wells."
"Oil wells!" exclaimed Mr. Wilding. "There aren't any around here."
"There wasn't but there will be very soon," Mr. Ricka added. "My
companions are William Hendershot," and he indicated the man with the
white beard, "Joseph Gampfer," who was the tramp, "and Andrew Maddox.
They are associated with me in this enterprise. Captain Needham, I
believe, you boys know," and he smiled.
"Are you crazy or is it a joke about the King of Paprica?" asked Mr.
Wilding, not inclined to let up on the men.
"It was an odd title, made up partly from my own name, as you will
observe, and adopted to meet the exigencies of the occasion. For some
time I have suspected there was oil in this region," Patrick Ricka
continued. "I knew if I made any tests openly some one would find out
what I was after, and I would have no opportunity of securing the land
without paying a fabulous price for it. So I decided to come here with
my assistants and work in secret.
"We thought the best plan would be to pretend one or more of us was
slightly insane and that the other was his keeper. This was done. I had
the hut (a portable one) built and placed the name above the door to
further the idea that we were insane. Then we went through some rather
foolish antics, just to keep persons from prying around here. You boys
were the more persistent, and saw more of us than any one else. That day
Mr. Hendershot was poking his pole down in the river he was testing to
see if there was a strata of oil land under the water. You boys thought
he was crazy. Again, when you started to cross here and Sandy ordered
you away, we were making some microscopic tests of the upper surface,
and did not want to be disturbed. We hired Sandy, not because we liked
him, but because we heard he was on the 'outs' with you boys, and we
knew he would not make friends with you and so unintentionally perhaps,
give our secret away.
"As it happened the plan was successful in a measure. Then Mr. Gampfer
in the guise of a tramp met you and inquired where the cabin was, for
he had, up to that time, not been to it. He saw you were rather
dangerous boys to have loose, as far as our plans were concerned. Even
moving the cabin did not fool you. We saw you with the telescope that
day," and Mr. Ricka laughed.
"What did Sandy and Mr. Gampfer follow us for?" demanded Bart.
"Only to see if they could overhear what you were talking about, and
learn whether you were still determined to solve our secret," replied
the oil man. "They intended no harm, and, I trust, worked none. If they
had heard you discussing ways of finding out our secret they would have
warned me to hasten matters to a close. I hope they did not annoy you."
"It worried us," Bart replied.
"Of course. We are sorry for that. In the meanwhile we went on with our
experiments. We found indications that oil was plentiful under here and
made arrangements to buy the property. But we paid a good price for it,
and each seller will have a share in the profits. We did nothing
dishonest. Mr. Gampfer gave you a tip, once, but you didn't seem to
grasp it."
"What was it?" asked Fenn.
"The day you borrowed the salt," replied the man who had posed as a
tramp. "You see I was engaged in going through the country around here
with my instruments looking for indications of oil. You asked me what my
work was and I said hunting the 'Oilander Tincander.' If you will say
that slowly you'll see what I mean."
"Oil-ander Tin-can-der," murmured Bart. "Oh! I see. Oil-can!"
"Exactly."
"Well," resumed Mr. Ricka, "everything went along well until that
balloon trip. That brought about the climax. Of course it was all an
accident, and we had no idea our barge would pick you boys from the
river. You see we have a barge to bring machinery to us. It had
delivered some and was to bring more. It was on the way after it when
the balloon fell. Sandy Merton, whom we kept in our employ, was aboard
and recognized you boys. He told Captain Needham, who, knowing how
nearly you had discovered our secret, determined to hold you a while
until he could let me know. He had no right to, of course, and we will
pay you any reasonable damages.
"For you see we have struck oil," Mr. Ricka went on. "Our property which
extends for over a mile all around Bender's hill, is rich in oil. As
soon as you boys escaped Captain Needham turned about and came back. I
apprehend that is correct, Captain, for, though he sent a telegram to me
telling of your--er--of your detention--I have not seen him from shortly
before the balloon fell, until this moment."
Captain Needham nodded in assent.
"The need of secrecy is at an end," Mr. Ricka continued. "Our rights are
all secured and we don't care how soon everyone in Darewell knows about
the oil."
"What was Jimmie Nelson doing out there?" asked Bart.
"He's a friend of Sandy's," replied the oil man. "We hired him to stay
out there and pull the string, which rings a bell in the cabin, as soon
as he saw any one. We knew he was lazy, and this was the easiest and
safest job we could think of for him."
"He's asleep now," said Fenn.
"I suppose so. Well, there's no need for him any longer. I guess we'll
discharge him. Now as to you boys. I realize we had no right to detain
you, and you doubtless suffered some hardships. Will a thousand dollars'
worth of valuable oil stock apiece satisfy you?"
"Is the stock any good?" asked Bart quickly.
"I think Mr. Wilding can answer that," and Mr. Ricka showed the bank
cashier some certificates.
"That's as good as gold," replied Mr. Wilding.
"Will you boys accept it?" asked the oil man. "It isn't stock in these
new wells, but in some long established ones."
The boys and Mr. Wilding consulted together for a moment. The boys were
only too willing to call the matter square on that basis, and the
cashier gave his consent to the deal, as regarded his own son, after
demanding that Mr. Ricka also pay the reward, which was done. The other
chums were sure their relatives would not object.
"Now that is settled, come and see the first well we have sunk,"
suggested Mr. Ricka. "It is not finished, but we know it is going to be
a success, for we have tested it."
He led the way to a little clearing beyond the big one. In front of the
cabin was some curious machinery. There were a number of tanks and
barrels, which smelled strongly of oil.
"Did you connect the dynamo?" asked Mr. Ricka of Captain Needham.
"Yes, just before I left the barge."
"You see we get our power from a dynamo on the barge," the oil man
explained. "A wire runs from here to the boat, through the woods. We
didn't dare risk taking power from town or some one would find out what
we were up to. The barge not only brought us our supplies but gave us
electricity for an experimental plant. We'll soon have a larger one."
Then he showed the visitors where a small well had been bored by means
of new and improved electrical machinery. It gave a good quality of oil,
and there were indications that the under strata was permeated with the
valuable fluid.
In fact the new oil company proved a big success, and several land
owners in the vicinity made small fortunes. Frank's uncle was one of
the lucky ones, though his share was not as large as was some of his
neighbors'.
The boys' relatives decided to let the matter drop, in consideration of
the settlement made by Mr. Ricka. Soon there was a big boom in town,
caused by the knowledge that oil had been struck. A number of persons
found employment with the company, Sandy Merton being one of them. Jim
Nelson might have been hired, but he was too lazy to ask for a job.
"Letter for you, Ned," said his chums one day about a week later, as
they were all in the postoffice, for Bart had glanced in the Wilding
box.
"Wonder who it's from?" spoke Ned.
"Best way to find out is to open it," suggested Fenn, and the hesitating
boy forthwith followed his friend's advice.
It was a short epistle, and Ned had soon finished reading it.
"It's from my uncle and aunt in New York," he said. "They want me to pay
them a long visit next vacation, and I can bring some friends with me.
Will you fellows go?"
"To New York? Well, I guess yes!" exclaimed Bart, and the others nodded
in assent.
"We can have corking times!" Ned went on. "I've never been there. It's
great, according to what you read about it."
"We couldn't have much more excitement than we did right here the last
few weeks," remarked Fenn.
But whether the boys did or not can be learned in the second volume of
this series, which will be entitled: "Ned Wilding's Disappearance."
"I wish it was time to go now," Ned went on as he put the letter in his
pocket.
"Have to wait, that's all," said Bart. "By the way, what ever became of
John Newton, who used to work here as a messenger?"
"Didn't you hear?" asked Fenn.
"No. Did he get to be assistant postmaster?"
"Went to New York last week," Fenn added, for John lived near him. "Said
he was going to be an actor or get some sort of a job on the stage.
Wouldn't wonder but what he went in some variety show. He could imitate
birds better than any one I ever heard."
"Maybe we'll see him when we go to New York," suggested Bart.
There, as they discussed the possibilities of their trip, which was
destined to be much more surprising than any of them supposed, we will
take leave of them.
THE END
Transcriber's Notes:
--Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
--Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.
--Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.
--Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Heroes of the School, by Allen Chapman