“Gee, we’ll be millionaires before we know it!” cried Andy, dancing around when he heard of this. “I’ll be getting twenty thousand dollars out of this and ten thousand dollars for capturing those bandits. That will give me thirty thousand dollars. Why, I won’t know what to do with so much money!”
“I’m going to invest my money in The Rover Company,” said Jack promptly.
“And so am I,” added Fred.
“Well, I guess we can do that too, even if we aren’t going into the business,” came from Randy, and his twin nodded assent.
In addition to the money received as a reward for the capture of the bandits and the sum received from the treasure the four lads also got back nearly nine thousand dollars of the money advanced to finance the hunt for the Margarita.
There was one thing that pleased Jack even more than the finding of the treasure. This was a letter he received from Ruth. In that communication the girl told how her mother had recovered from the illness caused by the hold-up and how sorry her parent was over what she had said concerning the loss. Then Ruth told of how her father, after fixing up his troubles with the contractors who were building his new home, had changed his mind and gone to Sam Rover while Dick and Tom were away on business and offered to assist the Company in every way possible. She added that her father was evidently ashamed of the attitude he had first taken and hoped that Jack would forget it.
A little later in the communication Ruth mentioned some social affairs and said that Joe Sedley had called upon her twice and had wanted her and her mother to go on an extended automobile tour with him, but that she had declined.
“On an auto tour with Sedley!” grumbled Jack. “I like that! I’ll make that fellow keep off the grass!” Thereupon he wrote an eight-page letter to Ruth, telling her of the many things that had occurred and of how he now intended to settle down and go into business with his father and of some things that he hoped would happen afterwards. Then he said he was coming to see Ruth as soon as he could get away.
While Jack was writing this letter to Ruth Fred was equally busy on a communication addressed to May Powell. Andy caught the youngest Rover writing this letter and did not hesitate to poke fun at him.