“No, but—Oh, well, let’s forget it. I wish, though, we could get out of doors. When do you suppose we will?”
“In exactly four days,” responded Jack without hesitation. “You see if I’m not right. Predicting’s the easiest thing I do.”
The prediction proved correct.
CHAPTER X
STRIKING A BALANCE
It is not to be supposed that devotion to baseball dulled the partners’ interest in their business venture. That was still absorbingly exciting. Every morning at a little before eight either Joe or Jack, or sometimes both of them, went to the Adams Building and superintended the opening of the stand for the day’s business. The counter was dressed with its magazines and boxes of confections and newspapers, the cash register set up and unlocked, and business was talked over with Young. In the afternoon, usually a little after five, both boys returned and Young, giving an account of his stewardship, went off. Young had turned out very satisfactorily and his employers were a little ashamed of their suspicions regarding his integrity. It only proved, Joe declared, that it didn’t pay to judge a fellow by his looks. Young was a smart salesman, polite in an off-hand way, and, so far at least, had neither caused shrinkage in the cigarette stock or made away with a penny of cash. Consequently both Joe and Jack tried to be friendly with him. That they couldn’t quite succeed was not for the want of trying. There was just one thing that they found objections to, and that was the fact that the news-stand was fast becoming a favourite loafing place for a number of the town’s “sports,” men and boys of about Young’s age who had no apparent occupation save that of smoking cigarettes. They had spoken to Young and he had agreed to do what he could to keep the fellows away, but matters did not seem to mend and the partners daily feared to receive a protest from Mr. Adams.
Meanwhile the stand had branched out into new avenues of trade. The “Adams Building Cigar” had appeared on the market and had met with favour and rapidly increasing sales. A small advertisement in the morning and evening papers had drawn attention to the cigar and to the news-stand and the latter was no longer dependent on the occupants of the building alone for patronage. The little shop became a popular place and trade increased until, especially during the noon hour, it was all Young could do to attend to customers.
A week or so after they had started in business they had been called on by a young man who had proclaimed himself rather importantly to be a representative of the Evening Recorder. The result of his visit had been a half-column story in the next day’s paper of the novel store where customers helped themselves and paid on honour. It was a big advertisement for the little establishment and for several days afterwards folks came in just to see it and, usually, purchased something if only because of the novelty.
Post-cards, too, were added, a series of six views of Amesville scenes, and attained such popularity that Joe’s original order had to be quickly duplicated. The picture of the Adams Building especially sold like hot cakes. Puzzles were another addition to the stock, ingenious contrivances of metal or wood or tin that could be dropped in the pocket and that sold for exactly double what they cost when purchased from the news company. The cigar trade, however, was what accounted for most of the business done. The little showcase was no longer too large for its contents. On the contrary, it became more of a problem every week to find room in it for the goods they wished to display. Instead of five brands of cigars they now offered twelve, and of each brand they had to keep in stock from two to four sizes. Cigarettes and smoking tobaccos had also multiplied, while the top of the showcase held an assortment of gum, candies, and small confections, as well as the revolving post-card rack. In fact, the small space was already overcrowded and the boys had been for some time contemplating making a request to Mr. Adams for a shelf across the back to hold the cash register and the overflow from the case.