_The Camp Venture Mining Company_
The next morning the Doctor "drew" his coke oven, which was quite cool
by that time. He minutely examined the coke and called Tom to look at
it. "You see," he said, "how perfectly it is fused. You see how free it
is from any sort of admixture of sand or anything else. I tell you, Tom,
we've got a great mine here, and it is going to make all of us
comfortable for the rest of our lives. Your good mother is especially to
be congratulated. This find will make her not only independent, but
really rich. Now I want you to understand me, Tom. If your mother
prefers to have anybody else manage this affair for her, I will
instantly withdraw. At present I have no interest whatever here, and I
can have none except by her consent. This mine is absolutely hers, to do
with as she pleases. I want to serve her in the matter, by finding among
my friends the capitalists who can make the thing 'go.' If she prefers
to put the matter into other hands, I hope, Tom, you'll urge her to do
so."
Tom arose, took the Doctor's hand, pressed it warmly, and said simply:
"I'm not quite an idiot, Doctor. Go on with your plans."
Somehow, although Jack was Tom's elder brother, the Doctor and indeed
the whole company had learned to think of Tom as essentially the head of
his family. Curiously enough his mother and the other boys themselves
had learned to regard Tom in precisely the same way.
"But Doctor," said Tom, eager to divert the conversation, "why were you
in such a hurry to put out the fire here that night when we first
discovered the coal? Would it have burned any considerable way into the
vein?"
"I can best answer you, Tom, by telling you that about fifteen or twenty
miles back of Mauch Chunk, in Pennsylvania, there is a bed of coal that
has been burning for about half a century. Everything that human
ingenuity could do to put it out has been done, but all to no avail. The
whole mountain is slowly burning away, and when one walks about on the
crust he is liable at any moment to have a foot sink into the fire
below. So you see why I didn't want our mine to begin its career by
getting afire."
The next thing on the day's program was work upon the second truss for
supporting the mine roof, and this was got into place before midday, so
that the afternoon was given to vigorous digging into the coal bank.
About five o'clock the Doctor called out:
"You needn't dig any further, boys, we've got it safe enough!" Then he
began singing "Old King Coal," as he hugged some specimens of the coal
he had dug out of the extreme end of their little shaft to his bosom.
"Got what?" asked Tom, who watched the Doctor's antics with eager
interest.
"Why, we've got what we've been looking for, coal equal to the very best
that was ever mined in Virginia or West Virginia. I was sure I could not
be mistaken. Now I know." And with that the Doctor danced and sang
again.
"Now," he said, "you boys come here. I want to talk with you. I'm going
down to the station to-morrow to see my father. I propose, if you
approve the plan, to have him come up here to inspect our find. Then I'm
going to get him and my brothers and their financial associates to make
a plan for capitalizing and working the mine. When their plan is made,
you, Tom, and I will go to your mother and see what she thinks of it.
You see the mine belongs to her absolutely, and any interest that any
of the rest of us get in it we must buy from her. But, by way of
preparing for such a purchase, I'm going down to the contractor's camp
to-morrow, to get my father to come up here with a mining expert and an
engineer, to look at the property and make up their minds about it."
The suggestion was welcomed by the three boys concerned, and so the
Doctor made his preparations for an early departure in the morning.
The distance was not over two or three miles, and, as the Doctor had no
wagon road to look out for, it took him less than an hour and a half to
reach his father's headquarters. Early in the afternoon a cavalcade
reached the camp. It consisted of the Doctor, his father, one of his
brothers, a mining expert and two engineers.
They went at once to work to inspect the mine and its roof and every
thing else connected with it or in any way affecting its practical
working. Finally they made their reports quietly to the elder Latrobe,
and that gentleman bade them mount their mules and return to the
contractor's camp.
Then he asked the Doctor to bring the Ridsdale boys into conference with
him. Seated on a log, he explained the situation thus:
"Your mother has a very valuable coal mine here, in a most favorable
locality. It will need capital, of course, for its development, and that
I am prepared to furnish, as the representative of myself, my sons, and
my other financial associates. My proposal is this: that we capitalize
the mine at $400,000; that is to say, that we organize a company with
that amount of stock; that your mother shall put in the mine as
$200,000, and receive stock to that amount; that I and my associates--I
will take care of that--shall put in $200,000 in cash and take the
remaining stock in payment for our contribution."
"I don't see," said Tom, "but that your proposal is a just and generous
one. As I understand it, my mother is to put the mine into the company,
as $200,000 capital, and you gentlemen are to put in $200,000 in money
to be used as working capital, in operating the mine; my mother is to
own one half the shares and you gentlemen the other half."
"That is quite correct," said the elder Latrobe.
"Then I am perfectly satisfied," answered Tom. "What do you say, Jack?
What's your view, Harry?"
The two other boys had no objection to offer. Indeed the easy rolling of
large figures as sweet morsels under the tongues of the financiers
completely appalled them, and so the whole matter was left to Tom to
settle.
That evening he went down the mountain with the elder Latrobe, leaving
the Doctor and the boys to guard the mine. The next day Mr. Latrobe and
Tom set off on mules for the town, fifteen miles distant, where Tom's
mother lived. They arrived about noon, and Tom was eager to broach the
business at once. But Mr. Latrobe objected.
"I don't want to talk to you about this business, Madam, without the
presence of some legal adviser or man of business, whose advice will
prevent you from making mistakes."
"Oh," answered the widow, "my Tom is here and he has a clear head."
"All the same I wish you would send for a lawyer," answered the
gentleman.
"But I cannot afford it," said the lady.
"You can, Madam. Your coal property is rich enough to afford many
lawyers. And besides, Tom here has money enough to his credit on our
books to pay a lawyer's fee ten times over. You have no idea what a
winter's work your boys have put in on the mountain. Sincerely, I do not
wish to lay my proposals before you without the presence of some
disinterested, professional person, who can wisely advise you as to
their acceptance or rejection. I have asked Tom to come with me in order
that he may tell you how rich a property you have in this coal deposit,
and warn your professional adviser against concluding any arrangement
with me and my associates which does not give you an adequate recompense
for the property that we ask you to put into this venture."
So the lady sent for a wise old lawyer, who, after hearing Tom's
statement, earnestly advised the widow to accept the terms offered. Then
Mr. Latrobe said:
"Madam, I am going to employ this gentleman, as a trusted friend of
yours, to draw up our articles of incorporation and complete the legal
formalities necessary to our mining company's existence. Meantime Tom
and I will go back to the mine and set men at work in its development."
"What name will you give to your company?" asked the old lawyer.
"Why, the 'Camp Venture Mining Company,'" quickly responded Tom, "and
we'll call the mine itself the 'Camp Venture Mine.' It all came out of
Camp Venture."