"I don't think it was any bluff," returned Randy. "They were getting in their machinery just as fast as they could."
If Dick Rover had been present he might have advised against visiting the Lorimer Spell claim. In a roundabout way he had heard from Carson Davenport. The oil well promoter had not forgotten how he had been knocked down, and he had told a number of people that he intended sooner or later to square accounts with "that fellow from New York."
But Jack's father was not on hand to see them ride away, and so without giving the matter much more consideration the boys had the driver of the automobile head towards the place where the encounter between Davenport and Dick Rover had taken place.
"My gracious! just see how the oil wells are coming in, will you?" cried Fred, while they were riding along. He pointed to a hillside where two new wells were at work. "Those weren't here when we went through before."
"It looks to me as if some of these folks were fairly crazy about oil," remarked Randy.
"Well, it's a terrible temptation to get busy when you think that under your very feet there may be thousands and thousands of dollars' worth of that stuff," returned Jack.
"What a different place this is from around Colby Hall," commented Fred.
"Yes. And quite different from Valley Brook Farm, too," added Randy.
"What's the matter with comparing it with Riverside Drive?" questioned Andy, with a grin. "Don't you see the Hudson River over there with the stately warships?" and as he spoke he pointed to a pond of water, the surface of which was black with oil and on which floated several logs.
"In one way I think the old fellow I was talking with last night was right," declared Jack. "He said that the oil had spoiled the whole country. Just look around, will you? Everything is black and greasy with oil."