Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-06-19
STAUNTON, VIRGINIA, JUNE 10, 1891.


down, but Vroni held his arm.
What Frau Rabenholtz had to say to
Squire Schaffhouser would make interest
ing reading by itself, but it has nothing to
do with the story.
Six weeks passed by. A tall derrick lift
ed its unsightly wooden skeleton in a
promising corner of the Rabenholtz farm,
and Joe was drilling the well for Tim.
The bit had gone to depth OF eighteen
hudred feet and was expected momentari
ly to reach the sand. Tim rushed excited
ly from the engine room to the tanks, and
from the tanks to the drilling platform.
The tools had to be hoisted and new steel
bit fastened to them In cleaning the drill
hole small particles of whitish gray sand
We're brought to the surface. The sand
had been reached. Everybody was in a
high pitch Of suspense The men scarce
dared talk with each other above whis-
per. This is one of the peculiarities of ex-
citement.
The drill was lowered again. The irreg-
ular action of the engine betrayed that the
TOOL had as yet not reached bottom, and it
required some minutes to adjust it proper
ly. A few thumps and the rope worked
up and down regularly. Joe touched the
damp hemp, attentively felt its peculiar
trembling, and declared that some hard
substance had been struck. The engineer,
an old oil man, came over, shook his head
obviously and was willing to bet that ''she
would be dry" Tins heart sank within
him and his looks betrayed his feelings.
Joe was correspondingly pleased His
pleasure was short lived, however, for af-
ter little over an hours work the bit
sank again rapidly and evenly.
A vOl11ypa of rac rI,obad Y1pvarJ o,,1 rI,,,
quickly threw away the cigar which he
had been chewing nervously.
''She is filling!'' yelled Joe. Sure enough,
Tim, who had jumped to the rope at once,
could tell by a peculiar vibration thereof
that the tool at its lower end was working
in liquid. Whether it was salt water or
oil could not, of course, be determined as
yet, but the ever increasing volume of gas
that rushed up the drill hole made the lat
ter more probable.
A sudden rushing sound from below, and
the next moment a column of yellow oil
shot high up into the air, drenching every
thing for many yards around ere the oil
saver could be packed tightly over the drill
hole. Then the golden liquid rushed in
steady stream through the large pipe into
the tanks with such force and volume that
hundreds of barrels of oil flowed down the
creek, covering it with an iridescent coat
ing.
The excitement was intense, and within
an hour hundreds of people came to see the
''gusher." Everybody congratulated Tim,
and every one thought he was the first and
only one to make a pun on his former So
briquet, which was not SO, and of course
Tim strutted about as if he had done it all
by the exercise of his surprising genius
and superior acumen.
Frau Rabenholtz was furious, but this
time she failed to obtain sympathy even
from her husband. After she had cooled
down she called Vroni into the kitchen
and told her then and there to set her cap
all the stronger for Dry Hole Tim. Vroni
refused, and there was quite scene. The
frau had the last word as usual, and poor
Vroni at last gave in for the sake of peace.
But she told Joe all about it in the evening.
They discussed the matter from every
point of view for long time Finally,
seeing no other way out of the diffie ulty,
they decided to go to Butler and get mar
ried clandestinely. The fair was to be held
there on the 10th, ,11th and 18th Of October,
and they made it up to go on the 18th, so
they looked in the almanac and found that
the 18th wonld fall on Monday. This was
strange, because then the last day of the
fair would fall on Sunday, which had
never before been the case. 1t was GER
tainly an uncommon thing, and they
could not understand it. They sat for
awhile considering the matter, when at
last Vroni turned to the front page of the
almanac and burst out laughing; it was
last years calendar.
Then she went into the house to fetch
the latest edition. On her return she found
Joe in brown study. He grasped the lit
tie book she brought with an eager, trenl-
bling hand, and nervously began to turn
over the leaves until he came to the month
of August. His eye followed the index
finger that ran down the dates. Suddenly
he gave a ringing Whoop and clasping
Vroni in his arms he commenced series
of elaborate dance steps with her, singing
and shouting and laughing at the top of
his voice as he carried her along despite
her objections. Old man Rabenholtz, at
tracted by the noise, stepped out on the
porch just in time to see Nroni slap Joe's
face. The latter paid no attention to pleas
antry, but rushed into the house, carrying
the old man and Vropi with him. The old
lady had arisen with q terrible frown; her
arms were already akimho and her mouth
half open.
buU UnlS Time she u1u not 90 Une talking.
In two minutes Joe had explained his
sudden strange behavior and more. He
had discovered that the date on the oil
lease to Dry Hole Tim was correct. August
10 was really Sunday, and therefore the
lease was illegal. null and void" having
been signed and dated on a Sunday, which
all could swear to. Accidentally, the old
calendar had been used.
Dry Hole Tim was unceremoniously dis
possessed, and the 'gusher' gushed hence
forth for the benefit of the Rabenholtzes,
under the careful management of "Greasy
Joe"
was present when Squire Schaffhouser
performed the ceremony that made Yeron
lea Rabenholtz and "Greasy Joe" man and
wife.
After the feast Joe took me aside to show
me the two almanacs in a little box of in
laid wood with heavy plate glass top and
metal corners, and told me this story. So
1t must be true.-Max de Lipman in Pitts
burg Bulletin.
The Cynic's Solution a Good One.