e risk of drowning."

"I didn't think of that."

"If you had been a coward or a selfish boy, it would have been the first
thing you would have thought of. So Mr. Rockwell gave you this place in
acknowledgment of your service. I am glad he did. You deserve it."

"He has done more," said Dick. Then he related the events of the evening
previous, and told Mr. Murdock of the two gifts he had received. "So,
with the money I had before, I have now eleven hundred dollars," Dick
concluded. "Shall I leave it in the savings bank, or can I do better
with it?"

"I'll tell you what I think will be a good investment," said Mr.
Murdock. "I know a party who owns four adjoining lots on Forty-Fifth
Street. He is pressed for money, and wishes to dispose of them. He
offered them to me at twenty-two hundred dollars, half cash. I offered
him a thousand dollars cash for two of them, but he wishes to sell the
whole together. I think it will be an excellent speculation, for the
laying out of Central Park is carrying up the price of lots in the
neighborhood rapidly."

"Why didn't you buy them, then?"

"Because I didn't want to buy anything that I couldn't pay for at once.
I've got a wife and three children to look out for, and so I can save
money but slowly. If I only had myself to take care of, I wouldn't
hesitate."

"Can't we club together, and buy it?" suggested Dick, eagerly.

"That is just what I was going to propose. I think the owner will take
two thousand dollars down for the lots. That will be a thousand dollars
apiece. I've got that money, and so have you. What do you think of it?"

"Tip-top," said Dick, enthusiastically. "It's just what I'd like to do."

"Of course it wouldn't bring us in anything, but would, instead, be an
expense for the present, as we should have to pay taxes on it. On the
other hand, you could invest the money in bank-stock, so as to receive
seventy or eighty dollars annually at interest. You must decide which
investment you prefer. The land we may have to keep on hand four or five
years, paying taxes yearly."

"But the price'll go up."

"There is no doubt of that. The city is extending northwards rapidly. I
shouldn't be surprised if the lots would bring a thousand dollars apiece
in less than five years. This would be equal to a very handsome
interest."

"I'm in for buying 'em," said Dick. "So, if you'll see the owner, I'll
have the money all ready whenever you want it."

"Very well, but perhaps y