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nothing gained,'" quoted Wade. "What say, Raed?
Why not buy gold?"
"Better put it into bonds," said Kit; "safer, a good deal."

"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. But then you will be dealt
honestly with, if that's what you mean by bottom. Of course, you must
take the risk with the rest of us. You put in ten thousand: and, if you
want me to do so, I will be on the lookout for your interests; tell you
when to sell, you know; and, in case there should be like to come a
crash, I'll tip you a wink when to stand from under."
"Then you advise us to invest in this?" queried Raed.
"Well, I should say that it was as well as you can do."
"What say, fellows?" Raed inquired, turning to us.
"Perhaps we could not do better," said Kit. "I suppose this property
comes under the head of real estate; and real estate is generally
considered safe property. You call it real estate, don't you, Mr. H----?"
"Yes, yes; as near real estate as anything. It's kind of amphibious; half
real estate certainly,--more'n half when the tide is out."
So we purchased that afternoon, through Mr. H----, ten thousand

dollars' worth of Back-bay land. Of our remaining five thousand dollars,
we put three thousand dollars into 5-20 bonds, and deposited the
remaining two thousand dollars ready for immediate use. That was
about all we did that day.
In the evening we went to hear Parepa, who was then in town; and the
next morning met at nine, at Raed's again, to pow-wow further
concerning the yacht.
"It is too late," said Kit after we were again snug in the back parlor, "to
get a yacht built and launched so as to make a voyage this summer.
Such a vessel as we want can't be built and got off the stocks in much,
if any, less than a year. What are we to do meanwhile?--wait for it?"
"No," said Wade.
"No," said Raed.
"What then?" asked Kit.
"Hire a vessel," I suggested.
"Can we do that?" asked Wade.
It seemed likely that we could.
"Has it ever occurred to any of you that we none of us know anything
about sailing a vessel?--anything to speak of, I