[Illustration: _ON BOARD THE FLOATING PALACE._]
In attempting to describe the "Floating Palace," I shall ask the reader to imagine a brilliantly-lighted saloon, filled with dashing-looking women, and melodious with music. Not everybody could gain access to this floating hall of revelry. Two small boats were kept running from the shore to the "Palace," and on these came the choice spirits who were admitted to the charmed circle.
Bankers and brokers, merchants and oil kings were to be met on the boat. It was not the sort of place which a man without money would care to visit. It took the mighty dollar to unlock the mysteries and pleasures of the establishment.
Champagne corks flew freely, and whatever was ordered had to be paid for at princely rates. A night on the "Floating Palace" might safely be estimated to cost a man a hundred dollars; and if he happened to spend two hundred, nobody grumbled.
For the girls it may be said that they were neither better nor worse than the average of their class. Some of them were exceedingly pretty, and all of them had an eye to business. While music and dancing were indulged in freely, visitors were expected to order wine generously.
Among the more characteristic amusements was a bath which the girls took toward sunset. All the patrons of the "Palace" were at liberty to disport themselves in the waters of the Allegheny, and to enjoy the company of the mermaids, in the exhilerating waters.
The "Floating Palace" was most unquestionably a novelty in its way. As a novelty, it possessed a valuable charm in those days--a charm of exciting speculation, and it was also the means of rapidly circulating money. "Music hath charms," and it charmeth even in a greater degree when floating on the rippling waters, with the bright lights to add brilliancy to the scene. Where amusements for the people were few and money plenty, the "Palace" seemed to break up the monotony of the prosaic hunt for wealth characteristic of the oil regions. The amusements on shore were not of the highest order, and the "Palace" was certainly less objectionable in many respects than some of the amusements which flourished ashore.
The "Floating Palace" cost twenty-five hundred dollars, but so great was the success attending it that in sixty days Ben was able to, and did, pay back one thousand dollars of the money he had borrowed.