Sedgwick had to be invited also, and that suited them, for they both desired to know what kind of a man he was. Both were satisfied, too, that he had no money, or he would have obtained a credit where Jack had obtained his exchange. When, at the first dinner, Grace had drawn from him that he had been in Texas and had seen cowboys, they both guessed where he had caught the trick which he had put in practice in Devonshire, and, thenceforth, save as a careless friend that careless Jack had picked up, they dropped Sedgwick from their calculations.
How Jack got his money was the greatest mystery; and so a few days after his coming, his father said to him: "Jack, I hope you have come home to stay. Look around and find some business that you think will suit you, and I will buy it for you if it does not take too much money."
"Thanks, father," said Jack; "much obliged, but I have a few pounds of my own."
"How much are miner's wages in Virginia City?" asked the old man.
"Four dollars a day; about twenty-four pounds a month," said Jack.
"And what are the expenses?" was the next question.
"Four shillings a day for board; three pounds per month for a room, and clothes and cigars to any amount you please," said Jack.
"Why, you could not have saved more than £150 or £160 per annum at those rates," said the old man.
"No," said Jack; "a good many may not do as well as that; but I had a few pounds which were invested by a friend in Con-Virginia when it was three dollars a share, and it was sold when it was worth a good bit more."
The old man had learned the secret. He asked one more question. "Did your friend Sedgwick do as well as you did?"
Jack thought of Sedgwick's injunction, so answered:
"He made a good bit of money, something like £20,000, but he turned it over to his father in Ohio. I think the plan is to buy a place near the old home. He only brought a few hundred pounds with him. Indeed, he only ran over to oblige me. We were old friends; at one time we worked on the same shift in the mine."
The old man was satisfied. Moreover, he saw his opportunity.
"What a wonderful business that mining is," he said. "Stetson, the broker over the way, is promoting a mining enterprise in South Africa. According to the showing, it is an immense property. Here is the prospectus of the company. Put it in your pocket, and at your leisure run over it."