Part 30 (1/2)
”How much farther have we to ride?” questioned Randy
”Ten miles, that's all,” replied his uncle
They hadNew York City, but each stop had been less than an hour in duration; so to these boys so used to outdoor activities it felt as if the whole journey had been continuous They were bound for a sone by had been known as Steerville, but the naed to Columbina This, so far as dick Rover could ascertain, was the nearest point to where the Lorimer Spell tract was located
”We'll take a look around Columbina first,” Jack's father had said ”I want to see how that claiet those docu to Spell from the safe deposit box in the bank”
”I see an oil well!” shouted Fred presently, and he pointed out of the car here the huge derrick could be seen over a distant rise of ground
”There is another! And another!” added Andy, a fewinto the oil fields,” announced dick Rover, and his face showed that he was just as eager as the boys ”Just think of how soreat ht!”
”It sounds like a fairy tale, doesn't it, Dad?” exclaimed Jack ”No wonder they call this the land of luck”
”But don't forget the disappoint a well only to find it absolutely dry”
”And wells cost so much to sink, too!” put in Fred ”Ten to forty thousand dollars each! It's an awful aamble away”
”Not all of the wells cost that much, Fred In some places they strike oil at a distance of a few hundred feet But here they have to go down ood wells are down three thousand feet or more”
The train had stopped at one or tns, and now the porter announced that the next stop would be Columbina, and he took their suitcases to the platform for them Presently they rolled up to a shted Then the heavy train rolled ard
”Welco city, I must declare I wonder where the Waldorf-Vanderbilt Hotel is located?”
”What's theto the Ritz-Copley Square?” added his tith a grin
”Perhaps we'll be thankful to get any kind of a shake-down, boys,”
announced dick Rover ”This certainly is worse than I anticipated, although I knew that we couldn't expect much in one of these boom towns”
To a newcomer Columbina certainly offered no special attractions Only a few years before it had been nothing but a point where the ranchmen had shi+pped their steers on the railroad, with a tiny stockyard and a small ranchmen's hotel and saloon coht be called, consisted of a long straggling main street with a much dilapidated boardwalk on one side only In the middle of the street the ons and autos were of wood, and none of theeneral stores, the sas which were designated as hotels, O'Brian's being one and S picture theater advertised to be open twice a week, in the evening
”I was advised by a man on the train to try the Sht I'd find a better class of people there than at the O'Brian place Wait till I ask the station master where the hotel is located”
”You can't miss it,” said the station man, when applied to ”It's down at the end of that boardwalk If you go any further you'll sink into mud up to your knees,” and he s in there?”
”Just as good a chance as getting in anywhere They tellout of the s,” and the stationin the way of a taxicab around here to take us and our baggage up there?”
”Taxicab? The last man to run a taxicab was Jim Lumpkins, and now Ji If you want to get up to Smedley's I reckon you'll have to hoof it”
”Come on, Dad, let's walk up there,” said Jack
”But your suitcases are pretty heavy,” answered his father, with a smile
”Oh, on't mind those,” declared Fred ”We've hiked around with just as much to carry many times”