Part 30 (2/2)
”I wonder, Tom, if we'd better get out and hustle for Jobs?” Harry asked.
”You might, Harry. I'm going to stick.”
Mr. Dunlop dropped in at camp, that evening, after dark.
”You young men are doing nothing,” said the mine promoter. ”I can use you a couple of months, if you'll stop this foolishness here and come over to me.”
”Why, I suppose Hazelton could go over and work for you, Mr. Dunlop,”
Tom suggested.
”That would be of no use. I need you both, but you, Reade, most of all.”
”I can't go to you now, Mr. Dunlop,” Tom replied regretfully. ”I'm committed to the development of this piece of property, which is only a third my property.”
”Bos.h.!.+ A decent farm would be worth more to you than this claim,”
argued Mr. Dunlop derisively.
”Perhaps. But neither of my partners has quit, Mr. Dunlop, and I'm not going to quit, either.”
”This is the last chance I can give you, Reade. You'd better take it.”
”No; though I beg you to accept my best thanks, Mr. Dunlop. However, Hazelton can go over and help you.”
”Both, or neither,” returned Mr. Dunlop firmly.
Harry looked half eagerly at Reade, but Tom shook his head.
”What do you say, Mr. Reade?” pressed the promoter. ”Last call to the dining car. With your funds running low, and a hard winter coming on you'll soon know what it means to be hungry.”
”I'm much obliged, sir but I'm going to stick here at my own work.”
”What do you say, Hazelton?” coaxed the promoter.
”Nothing,” Harry replied loyally. ”You heard what my partner had to say. In business matters he talks for both of us.”
”Good night, then,” grunted Mr. Dunlop, rising. ”If you should change your minds in the morning, after breakfast, come and tell me.”
After Dunlop had gone Tom and Harry walked up and down the trail together under the stars.
”Sixteen hundred dollars a month Dunlop is offering the two of us,” half sighed Hazelton. ”Two months of that would mean thirty-two hundred dollars.How much money have we now, Tom?”
”Six hundred and forty-two dollars and nineteen cents,” Reade answered dryly.
”That won't last us long, will it?”
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