“This is a joke?”
“Not by a good deal,” snorted Barnes, Sr. “If you’re in for that sort of thing, I’m going for once to put it on a paying basis. If you’ll paint your mother as she looks this minute, I’ll pay you ten thousand cash for the job.”
Barnes turned towards her.
“I don’t believe I can do it,” he answered, “but I’ll try.”
“Then it’s a bargain?”
“A bargain,” answered Barnes, gripping his father’s hand.
That morning Barnes sent off a second telegram to Joe. It read,
“This is a case of life or death. Come home.”
“Do you remember,” he asked gently, “what I told you
about the true adventurers?”
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