“Well, you have about one hundred thousand dollars. If you sell all your stocks, you could have two hundred thousand,” Hubert replied.
“Besides the interest on the bonds?”
“Certainly. I never figure on that.”
“What about the Arizona mines?”
“Well, the men say they are yet ‘a prospect,’ but a very good one. Their proposition is that you pay them five hundred dollars down if you accept their proposal. Then you are to send an expert to examine the mines. If on his report you conclude to buy them at once, you can have them for ten thousand dollars. If you prefer to bond them to prospect further before buying, then you can have six months to prospect; but then you must pay two thousand down, and at the end of the six months you must pay fifty thousand dollars if you want both mines, or twenty thousand if you only take one. The shaft they have sunk is the dividing line between the two mines.”
“Between the two prospects,” Clarence suggested.
“Yes, that is more proper, the shaft is only about one hundred feet deep. But you had better talk to them. They brought rock similar to that which they sent me last month.”
Rather rough looking men were the three waiting, but all had good faces. After exchanging salutations with them, Clarence asked:
“Have you had any assays made?”
“Yes sir,” said the oldest of the three handing to him three slips of paper. “Here are three certificates from assayers recommended to us as the best in San Francisco.”