"Maybe he'll trust us for what we haven't got, Dick."
"Perhaps, if we give him a mortgage."
"What's a mortgage?"
"Why, it's a paper showing that you owe a man so much money, and you give him a claim on your property as security. You'll soon learn about them in your arithmetic, especially when we get going to night-school."
"I don't care whether I learn or not, if I can be a part-owner in that stand," declared Jimmy, his eyes shining as he noted the pile of papers and magazines and saw the little enclosure where the proprietor of the place sat.
"Oh, but you must," insisted Dick. "Now shall I do the talking, or will you?"
"You'd better. But if he tries to come any 'con' game on us I'll have something to say. I know lots about selling papers, but not much about buying stands."
"I hear this stand is for sale," began Dick, speaking to a young man in charge.
"Who told you?" was the somewhat suspicious answer.
"My partner here, James Small, heard it from another newsboy, Sam Schmidt. Isn't it correct?"