"So will I," came from another; and the third nodded to show that he agreed.

As a result of this interview the three men called on Nick Ogilvie and were speedily engaged. They told some of their friends; and before the week was up six of Carson Davenport's best workers had left the Spell claim and had signed up to work on the Franklin farm.

CHAPTER XXIX

DAYS OF ANXIETY

"I wonder what Davenport will say when he finds those men are working here?" remarked Fred.

"I don't care what he says," answered Jack.

"Do you think he'll dare come over here and have it out with Uncle d.i.c.k?" questioned Andy.

"I don't think so," answered his brother. "I believe behind it all he is afraid we'll have him arrested for the theft of those doc.u.ments."

"If he really took them, what do you think he did with them?" came from Fred.

"More than likely he destroyed them," answered Jack. "He wouldn't want evidence like that lying around loose, you know."

When Carson Davenport learned that six of his men had deserted and gone over to the Rovers he was more angry than ever.

"They're going to do their best to undermine us," he said to Tate. "I wish I knew just how to get square with them."

"We'll get square enough if we strike oil here," said Tate. "Those Rovers will feel sick enough if they learn we are making a barrel of money."

"It's easy enough to talk about making a barrel of money," came from Jackson, who was present. "But I don't see the money flowing in very fast." He had been talking to a number of his friends, and many of them had said they thought the chances of getting oil from the Spell claim were very slim.

"Oh, you just hold your horses, Jackson," said Carson Davenport smoothly. "Take my word for it, this well we are putting down is going to be one of the biggest in this territory."

But though he spoke thus, Davenport did not believe what he said. He, too, was becoming suspicious that they might be drilling a well which would prove dry. However, he had the traits of a gambler, and was willing to go ahead so long as there was the least possibility of success.

As the days slipped by the work on both claims progressed rapidly. Nick Ogilvie managed to hire a few men in and around Wichita Falls, and Davenport also picked up some workers to take the places of those who had deserted him.

In those days the Rover boys became almost as enthusiastic as Jack's father, and their enthusiasm increased when Tom Rover and Sam Rover took a run down from New York to see how matters were progressing.

"It certainly is a gamble--this boring for oil," remarked Sam Rover.

"But it looks like a good gamble to me," answered his brother Tom. "And I like the way that man Fitch talks." He had had an interview with the oil expert which had pleased him greatly.

On one occasion the Rover boys rode over from Pottown to Columbina.

There, at the shooting-gallery they had visited before, they ran most unexpectedly, not only into Nappy and Slugger, but also Gabe Werner. At the sight of them Werner tried to get out of the gallery by the back way, but was stopped by the proprietor.

"You haven't settled with me yet," said the shooting-gallery man.

"Oh, that's all right. Take it out of this," growled Werner, and threw down a dollar bill. Then he tried to pa.s.s out again, but before he could do so Randy and Fred caught and held the rascal.

Cornered, Gabe Werner tried to put up a fight, and in this he got by far the worst of it. He managed to get in one or two blows, but then Randy knocked him down, and when he arose to his feet Fred landed on his ear so that the bully spun around and lurched heavily against the counter on which rested a number of guns.

"You let me alone!" roared Werner. And then he suddenly caught up one of the guns and made a move as though to aim it at the Rovers. But the keeper of the shooting gallery was too quick for him, and wrested the weapon from the big youth's grasp.

And then Gabe Werner did catch it. Not only did Randy and Fred pounce upon him, but also Jack and Andy, and as a consequence, bruised and bleeding, the big bully staggered from the shooting gallery and set off down the muddy street at the best speed he could command.

"There! I guess we've settled him for a while," panted Randy, when the encounter was over. "h.e.l.lo! where are Nappy and Slugger?"

"They slid out while we were taking care of Gabe," answered Andy. "I guess they thought things were getting too warm." And in that surmise the fun-loving Rover was correct. Dismayed by the beating Werner was receiving, Nappy and Slugger had lost no time in departing for parts unknown. It was a long time before the Rovers saw them again.

A few days later came word from the Spell claim that filled the Rovers with astonishment mingled somewhat with dismay. Oil had been reported, and every one connected with the Davenport outfit was of the opinion that the well when shot off would open up big.

"Gee! suppose they do strike it rich?" cried Fred.

"I don't think they will--not after what the experts said," answered Jack.

"But even Mr. Fitch said they sometimes made mistakes," put in Randy.

A few days later the well on the Spell claim was shot off, and this was followed by a flow of oil amounting to forty or fifty barrels a day.

Then it was announced that the Davenport crowd was going to sink the well several hundred feet deeper and they were also going to put down another well farther up the brook.

"I reckon that flow of oil has got 'em a-going," remarked Nick Ogilvie, and there was just a trace of envy in his tones. "Well, that's the luck of it. You can't tell anything about it," and he shook his head wonderingly as he went about his duties.

So far, there had been no indications of oil at the first well which the Rovers were boring. But Mr. Fitch had told Jack's father not to expect too much until a depth of at least twenty-five hundred feet was reached.

It made the boys feel a little blue to think that the Davenport crowd had been the first to strike oil.

"Won't Nappy and Slugger crow over this--especially as their folks have an interest in the well?" remarked Jack.

But the next day something happened which made Jack forget all his troubles for the time being. A telegram came in from his sister Martha, reading as follows:

"Ruth's eyes operated on yesterday. Very successful. Expert says she will see perfectly."

"Isn't this grand!" cried Jack, his whole face beaming with pleasure. "I declare, this is the best news yet!"

"I don't blame you for being pleased, Jack," answered Randy. "I'll wager the Stevensons feel relieved."

The telegram was followed by a letter which gave many details. But the main feature was that the operation had been entirely successful and that the surgeon in charge had said positively that Ruth's eyes would soon be as well and as strong as they had ever been.

"I am going to send her a telegram of congratulation," declared Jack.

"Even if she can't read it herself, they can read it to her," and he hurried off to the telegraph station for that purpose.

After that the boys waited anxiously for some sort of development at the Franklin farm. Tom Rover and his brother Sam had returned to New York, and they had wanted the boys to go with them, but all had pleaded that they be allowed to remain in Texas.

"We want to see the wells shot off and want to see the oil flow--that is, provided it does flow," said Randy.

"We might as well put in our vacation here as anywhere," put in Fred.

And so the four lads were allowed to remain.