"Lead!" he said, savagely. "Nothing but lead! We've been swindled!"
"You mean it hain't gold a-tall?"
"It's lead, I tell you."
"I vum!... Them fellers stole lead! And they got off with all your
money. Gosh! I'm glad I didn't have none along." His eyes were mirthless
and his face vacuous. "Beats all. Never heard tell of nothin' sim'lar."
They got into the buggy and drove silently into town. Mr. Bowman tried
to recover his spirits, but they were at low ebb. He did manage to hint
that Scattergood should stand his share of the loss, but in his heart he
knew that to be vain. Still, he could get that five thousand dollars for
the mining stock. It would be five thousand dollars.
"Anyhow," he said, "you're fortunate. You still can buy the stock and
make your pile."
"This here deal," said Scattergood, "has kind of made me figger. 'Tain't
safe to buy gold chunks till you _know_ they're gold. Likewise 'tain't
safe to buy mine stock till you know there's a mine. Calc'late I'll do a
mite of investigatin' 'fore I pungle over that five thousand.... Where
kin I leave you, Mr. Bowman? I'm calc'latin' to drive home from here.
Maybe I'll see you later.
Pages:
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234