“He ought to pay the boy something for his work.”
“I reckon he will—when I tell him that he is liable to arrest for enticing the boy from home.”
Andy told Tom Inwold to accompany him to the store next door. At first the boy hung back, but when Andy promised that he would take the responsibility of the coming interview entirely upon his own shoulders, the lad consented to go along.
They were gone nearly an hour, and during that time Matt heard some pretty loud talking through the partition which separated the two stores. But when Andy and Tom Inwold came back he saw by their faces that they had triumphed.
“At first Gissem was in for facing me down,” said Andy. “Said he had nothing to do with the boy, and all that. But I threatened him with immediate arrest, and promised to have the mother of the boy here to testify against him, and then he weakened, and at length gave Tom thirty dollars, with which to buy a new suit of clothes, a pair of shoes, a hat, and a railroad ticket, upon conditions that he would not be prosecuted. I reckon he was badly scared, too.”
Matt was much pleased. Leaving Andy in charge of the store, he went out to dinner, taking Tom Inwold along with him. After the meal the wearing apparel was purchased and donned, and then they made their way to the depot. Here a ticket for 274 Plainfield was procured, and the young auctioneer saw to it that the boy boarded the proper train.
“I’ll never forget you, never,” said Tom Inwold on parting, and he never has, nor has Mrs. Inwold, who was grateful to the last degree for what Matt had been instrumental in doing for her.
On the following morning, on going down to the store to open up, Andy and Matt saw that the entire stock of the store adjoining had been removed during the night. Gissem had been fearful of trouble, despite what Andy had promised, and had taken time by the forelock, and left for parts unknown. The young auctioneers never met him or his partner again.
By having the entire field to themselves the young auctioneers did a splendid business, and when they were ready to pack up and start for Scranton they found that they had cleared nearly ninety dollars by their stay in Wilkes-Barre.