“Yes, that’s so,” admitted Brooks, “but I hardly know how you can get around it in any other way. Besides, I would do this thing freely and voluntarily. It is not a question of expense or money.”
“Money!” shouted the old sailor, “who said anything about money? I want you to understand that money is not to stand in the way of this business. There isn’t any expenditure that I could make that would help the memory of Dave Harkins that I wouldn’t undertake.”
“Do you mean that?” asked Brooks.
“Of course I mean it. By the way, while I am here I would like to do something for this town of yours. What do you need just now?”
The lawyer laughed at this.
“You talk like a millionaire.”
“Well,” responded the sailor, “I am not a millionaire, but I’ve got enough to live on and a little over, too, and if I can make somebody else feel happy I’m going to do it.”
“You asked me just now,” said the lawyer musingly, “what you could do for the town.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Well,” responded the other, “a little fountain in the middle of the main street wouldn’t be a bad thing. It would be the means of slaking the thirst of both man and beast. We had one there some years ago, and it was mighty useful; but it’s worn out now, and we have no means of replacing it.”