The diamond drill., 1921-11-19

nounccd. ne was perfectly willing to
own more. ! don't know what his In
vestment was. but he gave me 70 un-
derstand that II was something like
half a million. In less than a month
after the deal was closed the mine was
drowned and went our OF business"
"Still. don't see your lost oppor-
tunify," I threw In.
I'm coming 10 that. AS Il happens,
my specially as an engineer is the un-
watering Of wet mines. The old gen.
tleman had maps and profiles with
him; the records OF very careful and
excellent typographical survey. I'm
reasonably certain that / discovered
way In which that mine can be drnined
nj comparatively small expense.
= II told him I thought could do II 4;
but 1 didn't give my plan away. In
stead. l made him a proposition; Of
fered TO undertake the drainage job
at my own costs. II should succeed,
he was to deed me fourth interest In
the property. IL / didn't succeed, 1t
was TO cost him nothing-sort Of q
contingent fee. as lawyer would say."
laughed. "You made an offer like
that TO strangerf and on a mine that
you had never seenT
He grinned good-naturedly and got
back at me. quick.
".All business Is a taking OF chances.
AS the matter stood at that stage Of
the game. had everything TO gain and
nothing 10 lose. and the only chance
was taking was In the bet on my own
ability as an engineer. The old man
was queer old codger In some re-
spects; as secretive and cautious as
an old fox. For example: he had care
fully clipped the name Of the mine
from the blue-prints and other papers,
and In oil our talk he never once let
that name siip. and never even men,
toned the name OF the district IN
which the mine was located. But In
spite OF all this caution he drew up a
sort of option agreement with me.
I'VE found a lawyer and had the
agreement drawn up in legal form.
The time limit was to be year, and
each OF us was to put up thousand
dollars to make the agreement bind
Ing. II either Of us should wish 10
withdraw within that time. he was at
liberty TO do so by forfeiting his ante
of thousand dollars to the other. II
neither OF Us withdrew by or before
the end of the year. was TO be at lib
erty TO go ahead with my drainage
project, and the agreement bound the
owner to turn over a one-fourth inter-
est In the property 10 me upon the
completion Of the Job and the unwater-
ing of the mine.
"At the moment was under engage
ment TO go TO Peru for a Chicago syn
dicate. and / expected to be out Of the
United States for at least six months.
and maybe longer. AS 1t turned out,
the South American Job was lot big
ger than / had anticipated, and for
that reason the time limit OF year
expired a week ago, on the day that
landed In New York. Yesterday
called upon the Omaha banker. and he
gave me the cheering information that
my old man was dead-had died Just
a few days earlier"
"Still, don't see how you have lost
out" put In. IS.
"Wait: here comes the funny part
OF II. Mr.. Banker tells me solemnly
that i am remembered In my old gen.
tleman's disposition Of some cash lega-
cies made just before his death, and
I'm 10 have the thousand dollars which
he put up as forfeit. took the prize
down and spent some OF 1t within the
next few minutes wiring the old mans
home lawyer. whose name and address
the banker had given me. I briefed
the situation for the lawyer, said was
ready TO fulfill my part OF the con-
tract. and asked him TO wire me the
name and location of the mine. You'd
never guess In thousand years the
kind of an answer got"
shook my head,
mo; probably not. What was it7'
''It was bolt from the blue. all
right. Mr.. Home Lawyer wired that
his client had never owned a share OF
mining stock In his life, that there was
nothing In his papers or records bear
Ing upon the subject OF my telegram.
and that I must be either drunk or
crazy. OF course. he didn't put II just
that way In his reply, but that Is what
be meant"
"How do you sort II outT' inquired.
"The lawyers telegram put II up
that my cautious. secretive old gentle
man never told anybody ut home about
his mining investments: kept them In
a separate pocket. no 10 speak. Quite
possibly he didn't have any other ex-
cepting the one I've been telling you
about. and the one he regarded as a
dead cock In the pit. That would ex-
plain the situation nicely. don't you
thlnkf'
The story had left me a bit foggod
as 10 the present state and standing
OF the thing, and said so.
"Well. IL stacks up about this way
said Brown-beard. There is n per-
fectly good mine somewhere west OF
ssm that In sporth aovmhowo Fr<r., m