A meeting of the Board was called, and when each member had had his say, matters appeared worse than ever.
It was a very blue time for our friends.
As for Kate, she cried a good deal that afternoon.
The time had at last come when she felt they would have to give up Aunt Matilda.

She was sure, if they had never started this telegraphic company, they might have struggled through the winter, but now there were stockholders and creditors and she did not know what all.

She only knew that it was too much for them.
Three days after this, Harry received a note from Mr.Martin.When he read it, he gave a shout that brought everybody out of the house--Kate first.

When she read the note, which she took from Harry as he was waving it around his head, she stood bewildered.

She could not comprehend it.
And yet it simply contained a proposition from the Mica Mine Company to buy the Crooked Creek Telegraph Line, with all its rights and privileges, assuming all debts and liabilities, and to pay therefor the sum of three hundred and fifty dollars in cash! -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Two days afterward, the line was formally sold to the Mica Company, and the Crooked Creek Telegraph Company came to an end.
When accounts were settled, Aunt Matilda's share of the proceeds of the sale were found to amount to two hundred and sixty-two dollars and fifty cents, which Kate deposited with Mr.Darby for safe keeping.
It was only the sky that now looked blue to Harry and Kate.
The Akeville people were a good deal surprised at this apparently singular transaction on the part of the Mica Company, but before long, their reasons for helping the boys to put up their line and then buying it, became plain enough.
The Mica Company had invested a large capital in mines and lands, and the business required telegraphic communication with the North.