creen. No danger of discovery now, since those men were
one and all watching the derrick, as though it were a magnet that held
their attention as the North Pole draws the needle of the mariner's
compass.

Suddenly there was a quiver to the earth, and a dull deep-seated roar.
Then an unseen giant arose in his might, and tossed the derrick upwards
as though it were composed of mere straws. With the flying timbers came
what seemed to be a stream of dirty water, flying far up in the air, as
though a fireman's hose had been turned on! That must be the
dark-looking crude oil, mingled with water, Toby conjectured, as he
continued to gape and wonder. Then after all the suspicions of Maurice
Dangerfield had proven true, and the Pontico Hills region did harbor
rich deposits of valuable oil!

He hoped Jack had been equal to the emergency, and pressed the rubber
bulb of his camera just at the instant when remnants of the dislocated
derrick, and that rush of precious mineral oil stood out against the
eastern heavens so wonderfully clear!

CHAPTER XX

OUT OF THE WOODS--CONCLUSION

"Now, let's get away from here while the going is good," said Jack in
the ear of his companion, after he had taken yet another view of the
scene, with the excited men running forward toward the sprouting oil
well, which possibly they might later on seek to plug up, if such a
thing were possible.

Toby was nothing loth. He had seen all he wanted, and still feared lest
that hound dog might either break loose, or else be given his liberty by
his master, either case meaning immediate trouble and exposure for the
two lads.

Once they had withdrawn to some little distance and they could increase
their pace, Jack seemed to be fairly bubbling over with delight, since
all his plans had worked out so admirably. If those pictures only turned
out as well as he anticipated he expected to have a pretty spread to
show Miss Priscilla Haydock when once more he sought an interview with
her. And certainly the clever schemes of the plotting nephew would be
nipped in the bud.

"Are we heading for the camp, Jack?" asked Toby, a little nervously,
because he knew a long and arduous journey stared them in the face, much
of which would have to be undertaken after night had fallen; and the
prospect of going through those dark wildcat-infested woods in the
gloom, even with a little electric torch to aid them, was far from a
pleasing thought.

"No, there's no need