Part 5 (1/2)
Upon this Captain Letcher, taking a little time to think, began to question his young cousin in the different branches he had enumerated.
The questions were not very hard, for the good captain, though he had taught school in Indiana, was not a profound scholar.
James answered every question promptly and accurately, to the increasing surprise of his employer.
The latter paused.
”Haven't you any more questions?” asked James.
”No, I don't think of any.”
”Then may I ask you some?”
”Yes, if you want to,” answered the captain, rather surprised.
”Very well,” said James. ”A man went to a shoemaker and bought a pair of boots, for which he was to pay five dollars. He offered a fifty-dollar bill, which the shoemaker sent out and had changed. He paid his customer forty-five dollars in change, and the latter walked off with the boots.
An hour later he ascertained that the bill was a counterfeit, and he was obliged to pay back fifty dollars in good money to the man who had changed the bill for him. Now, how much did he lose?”
”That's easy enough. He lost fifty dollars and the boots.”
”I don't think that's quite right,” said James, smiling.
”Of course it is. Didn't he have to pay back fifty dollars in good money, and didn't the man walk off with the boots?”
”That's true; but he neither lost nor made by changing the bill. He received fifty dollars in good money and paid back the same, didn't he?”
”Yes.”
”Whatever he lost his customer made, didn't he?”
”Yes.”
”Well, the man walked off with forty-five dollars and a pair of boots.
The other five dollars the shoemaker kept himself.”
”That's so, Jim. I see it now, but it's rather puzzling at first. Did you make that out yourself?”
”Yes.”
”Then you've got a good head--better than I expected. Have you got any more questions?”
”Just a few.”
So the boy continued to ask questions, and the captain was more than once obliged to confess that he could not answer. He began to form a new opinion of his young cousin, who, though he filled the humble position of a ca.n.a.l-boy, appeared to be well equipped with knowledge.
”I guess that'll do, Jim,” he said after a while. ”You've got ahead of me, though I didn't expect it. A boy with such a head as you've got ought not to be on the tow-path.”
”What ought I to be doing, cousin?”
”You ought to keep school. You're better qualified than I am to-day, and yet I taught for three winters in Indiana.”