l."

"Don't know about that," remarked Wade. "Your abolition government may
turn a somersault some fine morning."

"Well, it won't strike on its head if it does,--like a certain
government we've all heard of," retorted Kit.

"Call the president and secretary to order, somebody!" cried Raed.

"Now about buying gold," he continued. "There's nothing to be made in
gold just now, especially with fifteen thousand dollars: if we had a
million, it might be worth talking of. I really don't just know where
to put our little fifteen thousand dollars to make it pull the
hardest. Suppose we run down and have a talk with our legal friend,
Mr. H----" (the same who had advised us relative to the "lode").

"All right."

We went down. Our gentleman had just come in. Raed stated our case.
H---- heard it.

"So you want to speculate a little," said he pleasantly. "Good boys.
That's right. Won't work yourselves; won't even let your money work
honestly: want to set it to cheating somebody. Well, you must remember
that the biter sometimes gets bitten."

"Oh! we don't want anything hazardous," explained Raed.

"Yes, I see," remarked Mr. H----; "something not too sharp, sort of
over and above board, and tolerably safe."

"That's about our style," remarked Wade.

"Well, I'm doing a little something by way of Back-Bay land
speculation. That would be near home for you; and you can go in your
whole pile, or only a thousand, just as you choose."

"Back-bay land," said Kit. "Where is this Back-bay land?"

"Well, there you've got me," replied Mr. H----, laughing. "It would
be rather hard telling where the _land_ is. In fact, the _land_ is
most all _water_. The land part has yet to be made. There's room to
make it, however. I mean out in the Back Bay, north-west of the city
here, along the Charles River. City is growing rapidly out that way.
We have got up a sort of company of share-owners of the space out on
the tidal marsh. These shares can be bought and sold. As I said, the
city is growing in that direction. There's a steady rise in value per
square foot. Value may double in a year. Put in ten thousand now, and
it may be worth twenty by next year at this time."

"But is there really any bottom to it?" asked Wade.

"Oh, yes! geologists think there's bottom out there somewhere. But we
shareholders don't trouble ourselves about the bottom."

"I mean bottom to the _company_," interrupted Raed.

"Yes, yes. Well, that's another matter.