Self-made man

“ Dick spent the entire morning gathering apples, making selection of the best that he shook down or knocked from the limbs.
“It’s like picking up money,” he mused as he gathered them into one of the bushel baskets and then carried them to the wagon, which he had drawn out into the yard, and dumped them inside.
“I wonder how many bushels I can get away with,” he figured, after a careful estimate of the load he had already secured. “I believe this wagon will hold close on to forty bushels, but it’ll be an all-day job to gather that many. ”

“ It will break my heart to lose you, Dick, but at least it will be a satisfaction to know you’ve reached your proper station.”
“Don’t you talk nonsense, Joe,” said Dick, grasping his hand with a feeling that could not be mistaken. “Chums we’ve been in adversity, and so shall we remain in the days when prosperity has overtaken one of us at least. Glad as I am to recover my father, I am proud to say that, without any help from him and but little in a business sense from even Mr. Nesbitt, I have succeeded in making my way to the front, even if I am only seventeen years old.” ”

“ Luke Maslin! What does this mean? You an associate of Tenderloin thugs! Is it possible you have got so low as this?” cried Dick, in indignant amazement.
“Save me!” almost shrieked Silas Maslin’s son, in abject terror. “They made me what I am,” and he pointed to the reviving rascals, who were no other than the man Mudgett and the Walkhill terror, Tim Bunker. “They won’t let me go home! They make me do as they want! Oh, take me away from them!” ”

“ A young man of your ability can be made useful to me in many ways, and the experience will be of great value to yourself. You are young. The world is before you. The obligations under which you have placed me by your attention to my only child under the most trying of circumstances make me desirous of interesting myself in your future career. Will you give me the opportunity of doing so?”
Dick was both surprised and pleased at the proposition, and he accepted it at once. ”

“ Yes,” cried the boy, tears of wistful eagerness stealing into his fine eyes, “to-night before I sleep I shall know who my mother was—for something tells me she is not alive—that she died long, long ago, probably about the time my father carried me to Franconia.”
Jennie was much affected and treated him with a sympathetic gentleness that warmed his heart toward her more than ever.
“You must bring your father to see us, Dick, very soon. Remember, we are all interested in you and whatever concerns you. You will do this, won’t you?” ”

“ There the miser left them after assuring Dick once more that he was miserably poor and sorry he couldn’t do better by them.
“Gee!” grinned Joe when they were alone, “what a liar the old fellow is!”
“Never mind, old man,” replied his chum. “It’s none of our business. We’ve done our duty, and I can sleep like a top on the strength of it. There’s one thing I’m glad about—Luke Maslin has skipped.” ”

“ I have no kith or kin to whom my death would be a blow. I am entirely alone in the world. At one time it was different, and I was well off; but now my team and the few dollars in my pocket-book represent all my earthly possessions. My boy, I have been thinking of you while I have been stretched on my back. You are beginning life quite as friendless, I might say, as I am leaving it. But you appear to have energy and the capacity for hard work. ”

“ At the same instant Joe Fletcher ran around the vehicle and hit Tim Bunker such a whack over the head with his cudgel that the Walkhill youth saw unnumbered stars and hastened to make his escape over the back of the buggy.
But Joe cut him off, and the two boys were soon mixing it up pretty lively, with all the advantage in Joe’s favor.
In the meantime Dick found Mudgett a tough proposition to get away with, while the bearded man discovered in the strong and active boy a hard nut to crack. ”

“ The houses that constituted the village were much scattered, and owing to the heavy growth of trees not one of them could be seen from the store; but by standing on the centre of the bridge the short, stumpy steeple of the small, wooden church could just be made out looming up through the topmost branches in the near distance.
The post-office was located at the store, and the farmers for miles around came here for their mail and to replenish their supplies from Mr. Maslin’s stock of goods, which consisted of about everything needed by the little community, from a needle to a cultivator. ”

“ But he might just as well have saved his strength, for Joe having mastered Tim Bunker and bound his arms behind his back with the whip-lash belonging to the buggy, now came to his chum’s assistance, and Mudgett, with a villainous scowl, gave up the fight and suffered himself to be secured with one of the traces which Joe took off the horse.
“I’m afraid these men meant to kill me, thinking I had money,” said old Adam Fairclough to Dick, in trembling tones, when the lad stepped up to assure him that he no longer was in danger of molestation. “But I’m a poor old man. Poor—very poor.” ”

“ The Buffalo Express, on board of which Dick Armstrong and his friend, Joe Fletcher, were traveling to New York, had just stopped at Poughkeepsie, and the exclamation was drawn from Joe by the appearance in the car of a lovely young girl of apparently fifteen years of age, accompanied by a fine-looking gentleman of perhaps forty, who seemed to be her father.
“She is pretty, for a fact,” admitted Dick, casting a look of admiration at the young lady. ”

“ The farmer saw he had made a mistake and started to hedge, but Dick said those were the only terms on which he would take the potatoes.
“But they’ll fetch more’n that in town,” objected the farmer.
“I expect to make a profit, or I shouldn’t have made you the offer,” said Dick.
“But I made a mistake in putting the price too low. I can get more’n that at a commission store in the city,” persisted the agriculturalist.
“I offer you spot cash,” and Dick yanked out his roll of bills, which he displayed before the owner of the potatoes. “Take me up, and you’re relieved of all further bother.” ”

“ The apples on these trees were large, solid, and rosy.
Dick gathered an armful and carried them to the house. The strange man was awake, but very weak and not in condition to get up.
“You’d better drink the rest of this milk,” said Dick, offering the tin cup.
“Thank you, lad. What is your name?” he asked after drinking it.
“Dick Armstrong.”
“Mine is Hiram Bond. You’ve been very kind to me. I don’t know what I should have done if you hadn’t turned up. Where do you live?”
“I don’t live anywhere just at present,” answered the boy, frankly. ”

“ One day toward the end of March, Dick was taking lunch in a Fulton Street chop-house when two well-dressed men entered the place and sat down at the opposite side of the table.
They were talking about some real estate deal they had in contemplation, and did not appear to regard the boy’s presence as a bar to their conversation.
“We can get a thirty-day option on the property for one thousand dollars, pending examination of title,” said the shorter man of the two, after the waiter had taken their order. “The old man’s bed-rock price for the entire thirty acres is twelve thousand cash. ”

“ Maslin. He took care that I didn’t get much chance to get up in the world. I wish now I’d more schooling,” said the boy, regretfully.
“I’ll bet you know more than Luke Maslin, and he’s gone regularly to the district school. At his age—he’s a year older than you—he ought to be at the Slocum High School. I don’t think he cares a lot to study.”
“Many boys don’t seem to realize what they let get by them until it is too late,” said Dick. “You and I, Joe, have got to cut our own way in life without any help from anybody. I guess you can hold up your end. ”

“ When that chap goes down to-morrow he’ll find that someone else has got ahead of him. Gee! Won’t he be hopping mad? Well, I guess!”
It was Dick’s rule not to let the grass grow under his feet when he embarked in an enterprise.
Therefore he hustled to get his money, and left on an early afternoon train for Sodom.
He hunted up Jonas Durwood right away and made him a twelve-thousand-dollar cash offer for the thirty acres.
“What? what? You want to buy that ground, eh? Who for? Mr. Nesbitt?” said Durwood in some surprise.
“I want a thirty-day option and I want you to put it in my name. ”

“ Dick had brought in a horse blanket which he had found folded on the wagon seat, and after he had eaten all he wanted and put more wood in the grate, curled himself up near the stove and was presently oblivious to his surroundings.
He was up before sunrise, as he was accustomed to being routed out of bed at five o’clock at that season of the year by Mr. Maslin.
The morning was chilly, so he started a fire in the stove for the benefit of the stranger, who seemed to be sleeping easily.
After that Dick went to the barn and fed the horses. ”

“ Gibson started to dicker for a lower sum, but Dick cut him short.
“I wouldn’t do it for a cent lower, Mr. Gibson. I don’t know what Hiram Bond was accustomed to charge you, but the price I’ve set is a reasonable one. I had something else in view, but I’ll haul your goods out to Wayback on the terms I’ve mentioned. Is it a bargain or not?”
Dick’s manner was thoroughly business-like, and he appeared to be indifferent whether he got the job or not.
“But you’re only a boy,” persisted the Wayback storekeeper. “You ought to do it cheaper than a man.” ”

“ The farmer needed the money, and the sight of the cash smothered his scruples about selling at a reduced price, so the deal was closed on the spot.
Dick drove around to his farm and examined his stock of potatoes.
He found them to be in all respects as they had been represented, so he paid over the money and loaded them into the wagon.
“That was a good trade,” said Joe as they drove down the road.
“Yes; I expect to make at least twenty-five dollars out of them,” replied his chum. ”

“ I live in Albany, and make a living—not a very good one—with my team, carrying loads of stuff around the country. I just moved a family from the city suburbs to Wayback, some fifteen miles from here, and was on my return when I was took bad. I’m subject to spells of heart trouble, and I’m afraid I sha’n’t last long. I don’t feel at all good this morning. Perhaps I’ll feel better by and by. If you don’t mind staying with me till the afternoon, I may feel able to sit up in the wagon, and you can drive me back to the city. It’ll save you a walk of thirty odd miles. ”

“ I’ve got a few dollars saved up, and as Mr. Maslin has discovered that fact he won’t rest till he’s got it away from me. I need that to help me out after I leave here. So I guess I’d better go before Mr. Maslin gets his hands on it.”
“You’re right there, Dick. The old man’s fingers are like pot-hooks—they hold on to everything they fasten to. Once he gets possession of your money, you’ll never see it again.”
“You’d better go down and look out for the store, John, till Mr. Maslin turns up. I’m going to make a bundle of my things and start off.” ”

“ He wrote down the boys’ names in a big, leather-bound book, making a large cross opposite Dick’s name.
When they went out to the stable to look after Mudgett and Tim Bunker they were surprised to find that the rascals had managed to liberate themselves somehow and had taken French leave.
The boys didn’t know whether to be glad or sorry, but, on the whole, they were pleased to find they would not have to appear against the housebreakers.
Then they bade the old man good-bye, advising him to be very careful against any future attempts of a like nature. ”

“ Durwood had been offering it at $15,000, one-third cash, balance on a five-year mortgage.
The four real estate men evidently intended purchasing the property at the reduced figure for spot cash, with the view of cutting it up into lots and then disposing of them at a good profit on the whole investment.
“So,” thought Dick, “they would sooner give sixteen thousand than let it slip through their fingers. A thirty-day option on it can be had for a thousand. Well, I’ve got a thousand lying idle. ”

“ Wait till you strike New York, and you’ll be lost.”
“I think not, Joe, with you at my elbow to show me the ropes. I’ve cut my eye-teeth in a pretty hard school, and even if I’m only sixteen, I feel sure I can hold my own against the world. I’ve made nearly four hundred dollars since I cut loose from Mr. Maslin, four weeks ago, and I think that’s a pretty fair showing for a beginner.”
It was now quite dark, and a turn in the road brought them in sight of the house.
“Hello!” exclaimed Joe, clutching Dick suddenly by the arm. “Someone is before us this time.” ”