“Oh, I reckon we kin stand it. We ain’t blowin’ in all our money, not as you think—no, sir, not by a long shot! Fact is, there’s more comin’ in than goin’ out. We’re saltin’ it down.”
“Investing it?”
“That’s what we’re doin’. If you’ve got a few hundred dollars, I kin shore put you up to a good thing—or I dunno, neither. Afraid it’ll be about all taken up.”
“Did Mr. Hanna put you up to it?” Lockwood asked, with assumed carelessness, though he had the sense of an approaching revelation.
CHAPTER IX
PASCAGOULA OIL
Tom glanced doubtfully at Jackson and at his sister. Neither Hanna nor old Henry was present.
“I reckon you can tell Mr. Lockwood about it,” said Louise. “It’s all among friends.”
“Shorely. Well, then—did you ever hear of Pascagoula Oil?”
Lockwood shook his head, foolishly imagining some brand of motor lubricant.
“It’s an oil mine—an oil well—down on the coast, somewhere round Pascagoula way. They’re keepin’ it dark; only a few folks in it; but they’ll be pumpin’ millions of gallons of oil directly. They’re pumpin’ some now. Hanna knew all about it from the start, an’ he got us in on the ground floor.”