“You are sure?”
“Positive. If you don’t care to believe me, buy it in New York and have it shipped out.”
“Come, Dodge, don’t get mad. If I want to keep the location of my mine to myself, it ought to be all right. I intend”—
Oliver did not hear any more of the conversation. The clerk in the establishment approached him, and talked stocks so persistently that the boy was glad to escape from the office.
He had, however, overheard several important facts. The mine was located on the Mokelumne River; Mendix did not care to speak of its value, but was evidently investing considerable money in buying machinery, which would tend to show that the claim was worth a good deal.
“How fortunate that I met the man!” thought Oliver. “I wouldn’t have missed this chance for a hundred dollars! And to tell father that he was in South America while he has been in California all the while! On the Mokelumne River. That ought not to be so hard to locate.”
Oliver did not stop to consider that the spot mentioned was many miles in extent, and in a very wild and mountainous region. His mind was filled only with the desire to reach the place, and view with his own eyes his father’s property.
Walking to the opposite side of the street, he stood in the shadow of a doorway and waited for Colonel Mendix to appear. Five minutes passed, and then the man came from Ezra Dodge’s office, walked up Wall Street, and turned down into Broad.
Oliver followed him as best he could, but suddenly Mendix turned another corner, and before the boy could reach the spot the man had disappeared.
In vain Oliver hunted up and down and in the several side streets; Colonel Mendix was nowhere to be seen, and after half an hour’s search Oliver gave up the task.