Ralph Gurney's Oil Speculation Part 30

Ralph's father had replied to the telegram by a letter of congratulation, and had promised to come up there to see the property before Ralph's vacation had expired, for it was by no means the young oil producer's intention to neglect his studies. While the other partners attended to the work at the well, it was his purpose to return to college to finish the regular course he had started on.

It did not seem possible that, now the well was open and flowing so freely, anything could happen to prevent them from becoming wealthy, and that in a comparatively short time; but from this dream of fancied security they were destined to be rather rudely awakened.

One morning, when they were all at the well, while Bob was trying, as he had every day since he first saw oil from "The Harnett," to convince them of the wisdom of boring another well just outside the limits of their own property, but on that of Mr. Simpson's, which was entirely at their service, two men drove up directly in front of them.

Visitors had been so plenty at the well, that neither of the partners paid much attention to these new arrivals. Every one near there had heard Bob Hubbard's predictions that the oil belt embraced Mr. Simpson's property, but without believing him, and when the news went out that he had struck a twelve-hundred-barrel well just where every one believed there was no oil, it seemed as if the people must see it before they could be convinced it was really there.

Almost a constant stream of visitors had been at the well from the day it was opened, and Bob, believing these two men had come simply to a.s.sure themselves that what others had said was true, paid no attention to them, but continued his argument with George, as showing how they could open another well further down the gully that should pay as well as this one.

"Can we see Mr. George Harnett and Mr. Ralph Gurney?" asked one of the men, as both advanced toward the lucky owners of "The Harnett."

"Those are the gentlemen," said Bob, carelessly, as he pointed to George and Ralph, and then turned away to attend to some work, believing the visitors had only idle questions to ask.

"And are you Robert Hubbard?" asked the second man, stepping in front of Bob in such a manner as to prevent his leaving the place.

"I am."

"And this, I presume, is Mr. Daniel Simpson?" continued the man, as he pointed to the fourth partner, who had not yet gotten over his surprise at seeing oil flow on his land.

"It is," said Bob, sharply. "Is there any one else around here you wish to see? If there is, call the roll now, for we have nothing else to do but stand up for inspection."

"You four are all we have any business with just now, although in a few moments we shall want to see all who are at work here," said the man who had first spoken; and then, as he produced an official-looking doc.u.ment from his pocket, he added, "Here is an injunction from the court, restraining you from trespa.s.sing any further on this property, and from removing anything from it. Here, also, are summonses for you to appear in a suit for ten thousand dollars damages, brought against you by Marcus Ma.s.sie."

"Ma.s.sie!" exclaimed Bob, while the others looked at the doc.u.ments in speechless astonishment. "What have we got to do with him? We don't owe him any money."

"He claims that you have damaged him to the amount named by opening this well without his knowledge or consent," replied the man.

"Well, I like that!" cried Bob, angrily. "Of course we opened it without his knowledge or consent, and perhaps you can tell us why it would have been necessary to consult him about it. What has he got to do with us?"

"Since the well is on his land, and since you have been converting the oil to your own use, he thinks he has a great deal to do with it,"

replied the second man, who looked very much like a lawyer, while the other was evidently an officer of some kind.

"His land!" cried George; and then all four of the partners looked at each other in a dazed way, as if they had suddenly been deprived of the power of speech.

"Yes, his land," replied the lawyer. "He had a mortgage on all this property, which he foreclosed, and he proposes to take possession of the house at once."

"But--but I paid that mortgage!" cried Mr. Simpson, in a trembling voice. "I paid that mortgage, and have got it now."

"Yes," was the quiet reply. "I understand that by some means you have got the instrument itself in your possession, but if you had got it because you had paid the amount due, you would have received and had recorded a release from Mr. Ma.s.sie. Have you got that?"

"A release!" repeated the old man, in bewilderment. "I don't rightly understand you. I paid my money and got the mortgage. Wasn't that enough?"

"_If_ you had paid the money," replied the lawyer, with a decided emphasis on the first word, "you would have received a release, and that would have been recorded with the mortgage, otherwise that instrument is in full force."

"But I paid it! I paid it!" wailed the old man.

"I know you did, Mr. Simpson," said George, sternly, "and so does Ma.s.sie. This is a sharp trick on his part to force us into buying his imaginary claim off, for he tried very hard to get hold of this property in the first place, and would have succeeded if he had not tried to get too much. We will consult a lawyer at once."

"In the meantime, gentlemen," said the lawyer, "I warn you against removing any more oil, or interfering in any way with my client's property."

"I don't suppose you have got an order of the court to prevent the well from flowing, have you?" asked Bob, angrily, making what seemed such unnecessary movements with his hands, that the lawyer stepped several paces backward very quickly.

"This officer will remain in charge of such property as you may own here, since it is attached by Mr. Ma.s.sie," said the lawyer, evidently thinking it best for him to depart, and getting into the carriage with a celerity that hardly seemed possible in one of his age.

"Oh, he will, will he?" cried Bob, savagely. "Well, I shall stay here in charge of him, and I promise you he won't do anything more here than the law permits him to."

"What _can_ we do?" asked Ralph, as the lawyer drove away, and the officer sauntered around the premises like one who already owned them.

"I don't know what we can do now, except to go into town and consult a lawyer. There is no question but that Ma.s.sie is trying a little sharp practice, and if it is a possible thing, he will get the best of us,"

said George. "Ralph, you and I will go into town, while Bob stays here.

I suppose we had better take Mr. Simpson with us, so that he can tell all the particulars of paying the money."

"We will telegraph for father," cried Ralph, as if the thought has just occurred to him. "He is a lawyer, and he will help us through with it."

"That's a good idea," replied George; "but we will also see a lawyer in town, so as to know exactly what we ought to do now."

Mr. Simpson followed Ralph and George as they went to the stable, and from time to time he repeated half to himself, as he pa.s.sed his hand over his forehead, as if to collect his scattered senses:

"I paid the mortgage--I paid the mortgage."

"We know you did, Mr. Simpson, and it will be hard if we can't prove it.

At all events, he has not got possession of the property yet, and I do not believe he ever will."

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

HOLDING POSSESSION.

It was a mournful-looking superintendent Bob made when his partners had left him alone with the officer who was acting as keeper of the property Ma.s.sie had attached in pursuance of his swindling scheme.

Bob had a wholesome dread of openly defying the law. In a case like moonlighting, where the question of legality had never been definitely settled, he had been prompt enough to take his chances as to whether he was proceeding in strict accordance with, or directly against, the law; but in the present case, where the man whom he would have been most pleased to forcibly eject from the premises was armed with all the powers of the court, Bob was obliged to content himself with thinking what he would like to do.

As the officer sat there near the engine-house, doing no more than was absolutely his duty, Bob looked upon him as simply Mr. Ma.s.sie's representative, and the temptation to vent his anger by some act of violence was very great.

He restrained himself, however, from saying or doing anything that would entangle him in the meshes of the law; but in order to preserve this outward tranquility, he was obliged to ease his mind in some way, which he did by actually glowering at the innocent officer as though he would "wither him with a glance."

Of course there was a certain amount of work which it was absolutely necessary to do, such as caring for the oil, attending to the engine which forced the oil into the tank, and such things as even the law might not be able to restrain. But the work on the buildings, the sinking of pipes in order to get a supply of gas for illuminating purposes, extending the road from the well to the house, and all that labor which was for the purpose of improvement of the property, was necessarily at an end.

Had George remained, his prudence would have dictated the discharge of all their force of workmen who were not employed exclusively on the well, until the question at law had been settled. But to Bob such a course seemed too much like submitting to what was a deliberate wrong, perpetrated under the guise of justice, and he preferred the expense, rather than even the semblance of "backing down."

The officer may or may not have had a disagreeable time in the pursuance of his duty while Ralph and George were in town; but to Bob it was certainly anything but pleasant, since he had great difficulty in not coming to an open conflict with this personification of law, brought in to aid fraud.

It seemed to the ex-moonlighter as if his companions would never return, and once at least during every ten minutes he walked toward the house, in the hope of seeing them as they came up the lane.

It was not until quite two hours past noon that his vigil was rewarded, and then he saw them coming toward the house with a fourth party in the wagon, whom he rightly conjectured was the lawyer whom they had been to consult.