Shortly afterwards they had a glimpse of moving objects some little distance beyond. They could easily make them out to be several men, roughly dressed as a rule, and who seemed to be rushing this way and that as though laboring under considerable stress of excitement. But both boys saw more than that. Reared against the low sky-line was a skeleton framework made of timbers. Jack had never actually seen an oil derrick before in his life, but he knew that this was one. Undoubtedly their guess had been a true one. Maurice Dangerfield, the unscrupulous nephew of Miss Priscilla, was so convinced there was oil to be found on her property that he had entered into an arrangement with some experienced parties accustomed to putting down wells to make an experimental boring, and the skeleton framework had been used in carrying out the said sinking. "They've gone and done it, as sure as anything, Jack," whispered Toby, feeling that it was still safe to do this, since the men were all at some little distance from them; and moreover seemed completely engrossed with what gripped their attention. "That's an oil derrick and they've sunk a trial well. Isn't it so, Jack?" "No question about it, Toby. We must move around a dozen feet, so as to find fresh cover; then we'll keep on creeping up. I'd like above everything to get close enough to snap off a picture of that derrick." "Sure you must, Jack," breathed Toby, instantly falling in with the scheme, as he usually did with anything originating in his companion's fertile brain. "Once they saw that thing, with Mr. Maurice standing near the foot of the same, there'd be no trouble convincing a jury he was guilty." Jack lost no further time. He appeared quite anxious to close in before the sun got too low in the heavens to allow a good strong picture. The wind continued to favor them as before; and all doubt about the dog being tied up was removed when once they had caught a glimpse of the beast sitting disconsolately on his haunches in front of what appeared to be a rude kennel made from the hollow butt of a big tree. All the while they were thus creeping up they could hear the men calling out to one another. Jack suspected from the excited tenor of their conversation that some great crisis was drawing near. He watched them working at the foot of the derrick, and soon had convictions concerning the nature of their labor. Unable to resist the temptation to learn whether his suspicions regarding the presence of oil deep down in the earth were well founded or not, and possibly urged on also by some speculator whom he had taken into the secret, Dangerfield had finally consented to "shoot" the well, and settle the question once for all. Apparently a kind Fate had led Jack and Toby to the spot just when the crisis was reached. They were likely to witness the operation and learn the result, though uninvited, and unwelcome guests.