Part 16 (1/2)

By the way, if Doc Turner or any of that crowd back there makes any advances to you to buy your share of stock, sell it to them, and you're a rank sucker if you take less than two hundred for it. Also tell them that you can get three other shares from the office force at the same price.”

Billy, with great deliberation, took a pin from the lapel of his coat and pinned his hundred-dollar bill inside his inside vest pocket, then he winked prodigiously, and without another word withdrew.

”He's a smart kid,” said Blackie.

CHAPTER XII

WALLINGFORD IS FROZEN OUT OF THE MANAGEMENT OF HIS OWN COMPANY

In the old game of ”pick or poe” one boy held out a pin, concealed between his fingers, and the other boy guessed whether the head or point was toward him. It was a great study in psychology. The boy who held the pin had to do as much guessing as the other one. Having held forward heads the first time, should he reverse the pin the second time, or repeat heads? In so far as one of the two boys correctly gaged the elaborateness of the other's mental process he was winner.

At the age when he played this game Wallingford usually had all the pins in school. Now he was out-guessing the Doc Turner crowd. He had foreseen every step in their mental process; he had foreseen that they would start an opposition company; he had foreseen their extravagant belief in his ”pull,” knowing what he did of their previous experience, and he had foreseen that now they would offer to buy up the stock held by his office force, so as to secure control, before opening fresh negotiations for the stock he had offered them.

That very night Doc Turner called at the house of Billy Whipple to ask where he could get a good bird-dog, young Whipple being known as a gifted amateur in dogs. Billy, nothing loath, took Doc out to the kennel, where, by a fortunate coincidence, of which Mr. Turner had known nothing, of course, he happened to have a fine set of puppies.

These Mr. Turner admired in a more or less perfunctory fas.h.i.+on.

”By the way, Billy,” he by and by inquired, ”how do you like your position?”

”Oh, so-so,” replied Billy. ”The job looks good to me. Wallingford has started a very successful business.”

”How much does he pay you?”

Billy reflected. It was easy enough to let a lie slip off his tongue, but Turner had access to the books.

”Twenty-five dollars a week,” he said.

”You owe a lot to Wallingford,” observed Mr. Turner. ”It's the best pay you ever drew.”

”Yes, it is pretty good,” admitted Billy; ”but I don't owe Wallingford any more than I owe myself.”

In the dark Mr. Turner slowly placed his palms together.

”You're a bright boy,” said Mr. Turner. ”Billy, I don't like to see a stranger come in here and gobble up the community's money. It ought to stay in the hands of home folks. I'd like to get control of that business. If you'll sell me your share of stock I might be able to handle it, and if I can I'll advance your wages to thirty-five dollars a week.”

”You're a far pleasanter man than Wallingford,” said Billy amiably.

”You're a smarter man, a better man, a handsomer man! When do we start on that thirty-five?”

”Very quickly, Billy, if you feel that way about it.” And the friction of Mr. Turner's palms was perfectly audible. ”Then I can have your share of stock?”

”You most certainly can, and I'll guarantee to buy up three other shares in the office if you want them.”

”Good!” exclaimed Turner, not having expected to accomplish so much of his object so easily. ”The minute you lay me down those four shares I'll hand you four hundred dollars.”

”Eight,” Billy calmly corrected him. ”Those shares are worth a hundred dollars apiece any place now. Mine's worth more than two hundred to me.”

”Nonsense,” protested the other. ”Tell you what I'll do, though. I'll pay you two hundred dollars for your share and a hundred dollars apiece for the others.”

”Two,” insisted Billy. ”We've talked it all over in the office, and we've agreed to pool our stock and stand out for two hundred apiece, if anybody wants it. As a matter of fact, I have all four shares in my possession at this moment,” and he displayed the certificates, holding up his lantern so that Turner could see them.