San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-05-19

Farmers Almanac and Crop Adviser"
from the wall pocket in the kitchen.
The lease was dated Aug. 10, which, ac-
cording to the almanac, would be the Tues
day following.
Squire Schaffhouser had been rather
assiduous in the matter of emptying the
barrel, and consequently things in gen.
eral, and the oil lease in particular, aD-
peared to him utterly frivolous and unim-
portaut. He scarcely knew what he was
writing, and neither he nor old Raben-
holtz, nor Joe, who stood by, noticed that
the paper read, land agrees to lease his
farm, situate in - township, county of
Butler, state of Pennsylvania, consisting
--------
of 175 acres, at a rental of five dollars per
| annum" instead of Five dollars per acre
per annum."
Tim noticed the mistake.
Quick as a fash he revolved the alterna-
tive of losing the good will of the Raben-
hotties, or saving money on the one hand
with possibility, though no probability, of
winning Vroni; on the other clear money
saving of SS70 Greed prevailed. AS soon
as the lease was approved of and signed
and the signatures verified by the squire
Dry Hole Tim folded the document, placed
it in his breast pocket, buttoned the coat
and handed the astonished farmer five
dollar gold piece.
Old Rabenholtz was at first inclined to
take Tins tender of the years rent as a
joke, believing himself entitled TO 1915,
which doubtless he was justified in expect
ing. But his countenance assumed highly
tragi-comical aspect when the lease was
produced again, which sustained Tins
action.
The latter flung the gold piece on the
kitchen table and walked away whistling.
Joe wanted to follow and knock him
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 it's 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
were 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 a whis-
per. This is one of the peculiarities of ex-
element.
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 a little over an hours work the bit
| sank again rapidly and evenly.
A volume of gas rushed upward, and Tim
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 peculiar vibration thereof
that the tool at it's 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 a
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. Vroui
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 a long time Finally
seeing no other way out of the diffic uty,
they decided to go to Butler and get mar
ried clandestinely. The fair was to be held
there on the 10th, 18th 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 would fall on Monday This was