CHAPTER XXII

RAD TURNS UP

“YOU INVENTED it yourself?” cried Mr. Blythe. “And you’ve dug this well in a third of the time that the ordinary drill requires? Why, Mr. Swift, do you know that you have made one of the most important inventions of this century? Where is the drill? Can I look at it? Have you patented it? Is it for sale? Are you open to a proposition?”

The questions came tumbling from him one after the other in a way that showed plainly how this astute business man had been shaken out of his customary calm.

His agitation helped to confirm Tom’s own conviction that he possessed a fortune in his drill. And since he had it, he was in no haste to let it go to the first bidder. Others would want it too, and he had determined to let them bid against each other. He was not to be rushed off his feet.

“I can’t go into that now, Mr. Blythe,” he said. “In the first place, I have my hands full in arranging to get my oil to market. Then, in such an important thing as the sale of my patent, if I should determine to sell it, I must think things over carefully.”

Mr. Blythe urged and argued, but Tom was not to be shaken.

“Promise me this then,” said Mr. Blythe at last. “Promise that you won’t make any disposition of it until I have had a chance to get in touch with my company and they have had an opportunity to make you an offer.”

“I can’t make promises,” replied Tom.

“Not if I pay you a handsome sum down for your promise to wait three days before you commit yourself to any one else?” asked Mr. Blythe, drawing out his checkbook from his pocket. “That doesn’t put you under any obligation to accept our offer. You can refuse that offer if you like. It simply gives us three days’ time to get in a bid.”

“Put up your checkbook, Mr. Blythe,” replied Tom, with a friendly smile. “I don’t want to be bound in any way. You’ve got the telegraph and the long distance telephone at your disposal, and you can communicate with your New York office. When I have your actual offer in my hand, if your people choose to make one, I promise to give it fair and careful consideration. Further than that I can’t go.”

Baffled for the moment, Mr. Blythe bade Tom a hasty farewell, jumped into his car, and put off toward Copperhead at a speed that threatened to break the laws. Tom looked after him with a smile, and then turned to matters that claimed his immediate attention.

Ned and Mr. Damon were interested and amused when Tom told them that night of his interview with Mr. Blythe.

“Bless my prophetic powers!” cried Mr. Damon. “I told you they’d all be crazy to get hold of it.”

“Let them worry,” said Ned, with a grin. “It will be good for their souls.”

Later Tom gave them a bit of news.

“I’m expecting Rad down here to-morrow or next day,” he remarked. “It looks as though we’d be in this part of the country for quite a time now, and I thought I might as well let him come along. In the last