Ralph Gurney's Oil Speculation

The puffing, panting engine that dragged the long train of heavy cars into the busy little city of Bradford, in the State of Pennsylvania, one day last summer, witnessed through...

Ralph Gurney was one who thoroughly enjoyed everything in which pleasure could be found, and even while George was caring for his horses, of which he was very fond, Ralph had al...

Bob Hubbard had been away from the Kenniston farm-house nearly half an hour when Ralph and George left it, but the latter was so well acquainted with the country that he did not...

As the party waited silently for any move by those outside, Ralph had plenty of time to review his own position, and this review was far from pleasant or reassuring.

From what Jim could see from the loop-hole, there was every reason for the young moonlighters to believe that the negro Pete, whom they hired, was betraying them to Newcombe, an...

It is safe to say that Ralph, who was interested in the shooting of the well only as a spectator, was the most nervous one of all that party who were about to show Mr. Hoxie whe...

Varied and many were Ralph's thoughts, as he followed his friends at full speed through the woods, and none of them were complimentary to the business of the moonlighters. He ha...

Until nearly daylight the boys remained awake, laughing over Newcombe's credulity, or congratulating each other on the success of that night's work, and then Bob, who for half a...

Bob was in such good spirits as he drove along toward the hut he was about to abandon, that if Ralph had been in the least degree suspicious, he would have believed that it was...

In the excitement of the flight, and the sorrow caused by the thought of the injury which was being done his friend, in which he was forced, unwillingly, to take part, Ralph alm...

Judging from appearances, when they entered the new cabin of the moonlighters, Ralph concluded that George had said some hard things to Bob because of the part he had obliged hi...

The lurid flames, surmounted by the thick, black smoke, towered upward as if to meet the lightning's flash, and then, as the wind and rain beat it down for a moment, the heavy c...

Many conflagrations, caused by the lightning striking an oil-tank, have been known since the discovery of petroleum; but none had ever been so disastrous as the one of which the...

It was some time before the boys, even with the aid of Farmer Kenniston's not very valuable advice, could decide upon what course to pursue for the recovery of the stolen proper...

It was evident, from the information brought by the police, that the men who had stolen Harnett's team had driven to Bradford simply for the purpose of deceiving any one who mig...

This arrest, coming just when it did, was a complete surprise to George. He had hoped a few hours before that it would come, in order that he might have an opportunity of showin...

As may be imagined, the sleep which visited the three boys was not as profound as it would have been had they been in bed at Kenniston farm. In the first place, the bed of brush...

It seemed so impossible to Bob that such a misfortune could overtake them just when success appeared certain, that he could not believe what Ralph had said was true until he had...

It hardly seemed possible to the boys that, after the mishap which it seemed would give the thieves all the time they needed to make good their escape, they could be so near to...

Even had they been so disposed, neither Bob nor Ralph could have joined the farmer in the pursuit of the men, because by the time they arrived at the carriage they were so nearl...

It was not until a late hour on the morning after the boys arrived at the Kenniston farm after their pursuit of the horse-thieves that any one of the three made their appearance...

When the boys met in the wood-lot at the spot where George had left them, after they had made the first hurried survey of the place, consternation was imprinted on every face. T...

The news which Dick carried to Sawyer was sufficient to create a great excitement in that naturally quiet little town. In addition to what looked like an attempted murder, was t...

Bob Hubbard was not one to give up anything he had once decided upon without a trial, and when he told Ralph that between them they would find the oil and sink the well before G...

After deciding in his own mind that he would sink a well in the place he had found, taking the work and debts upon himself when it was all to be for the pecuniary advantage of h...

There was no material change in George's condition on the morning after work had been begun on the oil well. The physicians declared that he was getting along as well as could b...

It surely seemed as if the good news which Ralph and Bob had imparted to him was all that was needed to cause George's rapid improvement. From the day when they had told him of...

The idea that Ralph and George would voluntarily give him a portion of what he considered to be very valuable property, was the farthest thought from Bob's mind. He had gone to...

Beyond the fact that the drills had struck the rock, and that it was of such a nature that they could not work in it, but would necessitate the use of glycerine, but little more...

When the boys arrived at the Simpson farm-house, after the close of the examination, there was very little they could do save talk over that which was to be done on the morrow,...

It is barely possible that when Bob stood over the aperture with the iron poised in his hands which was to be the means of opening to them the mystery of the well, there was jus...

George had continued steadily to improve, and looked quite like his old self, so much good had prosperity done for him. His mother, recognizing the fact that she could no longer...

It was a mournful-looking superintendent Bob made when his partners had left him alone with the officer who was acting as keeper of the property Massie had attached in pursuance...

Bob had hardly called the main portion of his men to the point which was threatened by the money-lender's party, when the wagons reached the entrance to the lane, and the occupa...

Although Bob had taken so many precautions against the coming of the enemy during the night, they were all useless, since neither Mr. Massie nor any one in his employ appeared a...