"It's too bad, Jack," said Martha, when her brother spoke about this.

"Ruth is not the one to complain. Her eyes are probably in worse shape than she is willing to admit."

"I'm worried greatly, Martha," he answered. "I wish I could do something for her."

In a roundabout way the Rovers heard of what had happened to Bill Glutts. He had been locked up over night, and in the morning some relatives had come to his a.s.sistance and through paying a fine had had him released. Then Glutts and his relatives had paid for the damage done to the bric-a-brac stand, a damage amounting to nearly a hundred dollars. In the meanwhile, so far as they could ascertain, nothing further had been heard of Gabe Werner.

"Werner is evidently going to keep shady," remarked Fred. "Perhaps we'll never see him again." But in this surmise the youngest Rover boy was mistaken, as later events proved.

At last came another red-letter day when the command to which the older Rovers belonged was mustered out of the United States service. Tom and Sam came in one day, and d.i.c.k the next evening.

"Now for civilian clothes once more!" announced Tom Rover. "And then I guess it will be high time for me to get back to the offices in Wall Street."

"And I'm with you, Tom," said Sam. "I'd rather be at my desk than on a battlefield, any day."

When d.i.c.k Rover came back he was more filled than ever with a desire to get down to Texas to look over the land which had been left to him by Lorimer Spell.

"I've found out that it is right in a territory where a number of well-paying oil wells have been located," said he. "But I'm not altogether certain that his claim is a sure one, and it might be just possible that some prospectors might try to jump it, now that word has gone forth that he was killed in battle. They may think he died without leaving any heir."

"Well, Dad, you know what I said," cried Jack quickly. "If you went to Texas I'd like first rate to go along. Maybe I could help you with your claim."

"Oh, Uncle d.i.c.k! won't you take us all with you?" pleaded Fred. "It would be a grand outing for this Summer. We've been working very hard at school, you know."

"A trip to Texas would put us in A, Number One condition for Colby Hall this Fall," added Andy, with a grin.

"We wouldn't interfere with your business in the least," commented his twin.

At first d.i.c.k Rover was rather doubtful about taking four lively boys with him on the trip. But then he felt that they deserved something for applying themselves so diligently to their studies during the Winter, and also for helping matters to run smoothly while he and his brothers had been in France.

"You can go," he announced the next day, after a consultation with his brothers and their wives. "But I am going very quickly--by to-morrow night at the latest. Can you boys get ready so soon?"

"Can we get ready!" exclaimed Andy. "Say, Uncle d.i.c.k, just let me run upstairs and get an extra pair of socks and a toothbrush and I'll be ready to go to the North Pole if you say so!" And at this sally there was a general laugh.

After that matters moved with incredible swiftness. It was decided that the boys should take no baggage but what would go in their suitcases for the trip, and these were speedily packed. In the meanwhile, d.i.c.k Rover obtained the necessary railroad tickets and sleeping-car accommodations.

"Hurrah! we're off for Texas and the oil fields!" cried Fred.

"Off for the land of luck!" exclaimed d.i.c.k Rover, with a smile.

"The land of luck?" questioned Jack. "Is that what they call it, Dad?"

"Yes, Son. And it's truly the land of luck for some. For others it is the land of bitter disappointment."

"Then I would call it the land of luck--good or bad," announced Andy.

They were to leave from the Pennsylvania Terminal late in the evening.

The whole family had dinner together, and those to be left behind did not hesitate to give the boys a great deal of advice.

"I hope you don't fall in with any rough characters down there," said Mrs. d.i.c.k Rover. "They tell me there are some men in the oil fields who are anything but nice."

"You may find you will have to rough it," said Tom Rover. "I understand some of the oil fields are ten or fifteen miles away from the nearest town."

"Well, we've roughed it before," answered Jack.

The mothers of the boys might have been more upset, but they felt relieved to think that d.i.c.k would be with the lads.

Soon the time came for parting, and all drove quickly to the railroad terminal. Then finally good-byes were said, and those bound for Texas hurried downstairs to the big underground train station. Porters with their bags took them to the proper car, and they soon found themselves settled. A few minutes later they were off.

The trip during the night was uneventful, and, strange as it may seem, all of the boys slept soundly. But they were up early and ready for their breakfast just as soon as that meal was announced from the diner.

"I'm afraid we're going to have a rainy day of it," said d.i.c.k Rover, as the four boys sat down to a large table while he took his place at a smaller one opposite. "But as we'll be on board all day, it won't matter."

During the meal Jack noticed that his father was reading a letter very attentively, and when the party walked back to their Pullman he mentioned this fact.

"This is a letter from an oil well promoter," said d.i.c.k Rover. "I don't exactly know what to make of it. He makes a proposition which on the face of it looks rather good, but somehow or other I have got it in my head that he is a crook."

"In that case, Dad, I'm sure you won't want to have anything to do with him."

"Is he a New York man or one from down in Texas?" questioned Fred, who overheard this conversation.

"He operates mostly in Texas, although he has some connection in New York. He is very anxious to form a new company, and, of course, sell the stock. Well, I am willing to go into a new thing and take stock for myself and try to dispose of some to others, provided the company is really a good one. But I don't want to get mixed up in any shady transaction."

"I should say not!" cried Jack. "The Rover name has always been a clean one."

"What is the name of this promoter?" questioned Fred.

"Carson Davenport."

"What's that?" exclaimed Jack, somewhat startled.

"Carson Davenport. Did you ever hear that name before?"

"I certainly did, Dad. This Carson Davenport has a son Perry, and this Perry Davenport and Nappy Martell were great chums, and unless I am mistaken, Mr. Martell and Carson Davenport were once partners in some mining scheme. I heard Perry and Nappy talking about it several times."

"Humph! if this Carson Davenport was a partner of Nelson Martell, I don't know as I want anything to do with him. That whole bunch is tarred with the same stick. Not one of them is honest," declared d.i.c.k Rover bluntly.

CHAPTER XIX

IN THE LAND OF LUCK

"Well, here we are in Texas at last."

"And what immense stretches of country there seem to be, Jack. Miles and miles without a house or any other building."

"You must remember, boys, that Texas is the largest State in the Union,"

came from d.i.c.k Rover. "Some of the farms, or ranches, down here cover thousands of acres."