Charlie thought a minute and then told him. Maybe he bragged a little, because Charlie liked to tell folks what a dickens of a man he was.
“Bet you can’t do it,” says Mark.
“I kin do it every day for a year hand-runnin’ and not sweat a hair,” says Charlie.
“How about you other f-f-fellers?” says Mark.
“Calc’late we kin equal anythin’ Charlie can do,” said Jake Marks. “Charlie hain’t no wizard.”
“Then,” says Mark, “you ought to be p-plumb tickled with my piece-work schedule, for it don’t require no sich amount as Charlie says to earn what you’re earnin’ now. I figgered consid’able lower. So you kin git a day’s work done in maybe an hour less, and git the same money for it, or you kin keep right on to work and make a dollar and maybe more than you be.”
“I won’t do it,” says Charlie.
“Why?”
“I jest don’t like the idee.”
“All right, Charlie,” says Mark. “I’m s-s-sorry, because I wanted you to keep on workin’ here. When you git your lunch et come up to the office for your p-pay.”