Part 23 (1/2)

”I see,” said Sam musingly. ”You don't happen to know the man's name, do you?”

”d.i.c.kson, I think it was. Henry d.i.c.kson. I remember his first name because it was the same as mine.”

”Great!” exclaimed Sam, overjoyed. ”Why, I know Henry d.i.c.kson like a book. I've engineered several deals for him. He's a mighty good friend of mine too. That simplifies matters. Drive us right over to Hollis Creek.”

”To Hollis Creek!” she objected. ”I should think you'd drive to Meadow Brook instead and dress for the trip. Aren't you going to catch that afternoon train and go right up there?”

”By no means. This is Sat.u.r.day, and by the time I'd get to New York he couldn't be found anywhere; and anyhow, I wouldn't have time to deliver you at Hollis Creek and make this next train.”

”Don't mind about me,” she urged. ”I could go to the train with you and Henry could take me back to Hollis Creek.”

”That's fine of you,” returned Sam gratefully; ”but it isn't the program at all. I happen to know that d.i.c.kson stays in his office until one o'clock on Sat.u.r.days. I'll get him by long distance.”

They were quite silent in calculation on the way to Hollis Creek, and Miss Josephine found herself pus.h.i.+ng forward to help make the machine go faster. Breathlessly she followed Sam into the house, and he obligingly left the door of the telephone booth ajar, so that she could hear his conversation with d.i.c.kson.

”h.e.l.lo, d.i.c.kson,” said Sam, when he got his connection. ”This is Sam Turner. . . . Oh yes, fine. Never better in my life. . . . Up here in Hamster County, taking a little vacation. Say, d.i.c.kson, I understand you own a thousand acres down here. Do you want to sell it?

. . . How much?” As he received the answer to that question he turned to Miss Josephine and winked, while an expression of profound joy, albeit materialized into a grin, overspread his features. ”I won't d.i.c.ker with you on that price,” he said into the telephone. ”But will you take my note for it at six per cent.?”

He laughed aloud at the next reply.

”No, I don't want it to run that long. The interest in a hundred years would amount to too much; but I'll make it five years. . . . All right, d.i.c.kson, instruct your lawyer chap to make out the papers and I'll be up Monday to close with you.”

He hung up the receiver and turned to meet her glistening eyes fixed upon him in ecstasy. ”It's better than all right,” he a.s.sured her. He was more enthusiastic about this than he had ever been about any business deal in his life, that is, more openly enthusiastic, for Miss Josephine's enthusiasm was contagion itself. He took her arm with a swing, and they hurried into the writing-room, which was deserted for the time being on account of the mail having just come in. Sam placed a chair for her and they sat down at the table.

”I want to figure a minute,” said he. ”Now that I have actual possession of the property, in place of a mere option, I can go at the thing differently. First of all, when I go up Monday I'll see my engineer, and on Tuesday morning I'll bring him down here with me.

Then I shall secure permission from the county to alter that road and we'll build the dam. That will cost very little in comparison to the whole improvement. Then, and not till then, I'll get out my stock prospectus, and I'll drive prospective investors down here to look at Lake Jo. I'll be almost in position to dictate terms.”

”Isn't that fine!” she exclaimed. ”And then I suppose you can secure--control,” she ventured anxiously.

”Yes, I think I can if I want it,” he a.s.sured her.

”I'm so glad,” she said gravely. ”I'm so very glad.”

”Really, though, I have a big notion to see if I can't finance the entire project myself. I'm quite sure I can get d.i.c.kson to give me a clear deed to that land merely on my unsupported note. If I can do that I can erect all the buildings on progressive mortgages. Roadways and engineering work of course I'll have to pay for, and then I can finance a subsidiary operating company to rent the plant from the original company, and can retain stock in both of them. I'll figure that out both ways.”

It was all Greek to her, this talk, but she knitted her brows in an earnest effort to understand, and crowded close to him to look over the figures he was putting down. The touch of her arm against his own threw out his calculations entirely. He could not add a row of figures to save his life.

”I'll go over the financial end of this later on,” he said, but he did not put away the paper. He kept it there for them both to look at, touching arms.

”All right,” she agreed, ”but you must let me see you do it. Of course I can't understand, but I do want to feel as if I were helping when it is done.”

”I won't take a step in it without consulting you or having you along,”

he promised.

At that moment the bugle sounded the first call for luncheon.

”You'll stay for luncheon,” she invited.

”Certainly,” he a.s.sured her. ”You couldn't drive me away.”