“Well!” he said, and there was another pause.
“Here,” he cried, as if seized by a sudden fit of inspiration, “let’s hear what Cob has to say.”
“Bravo! Hear, hear, hear!” cried my two uncles in chorus, and Uncle Dick smiled and nodded and looked as if he felt highly satisfied with himself; while I, with a face that seemed to be all on fire, jumped up excitedly and cried:
“Let’s all go and begin again.”
“That’s it—that settles it,” cried Uncle Bob.
“Yes, yes,” said Uncle Dick and Uncle Jack. “He’s quite right. We’ll go.”
Then all three beat upon the table with book and pencil and compasses, and cried, “Hear, hear, hear!” while I shrank back into my chair, and felt half ashamed of myself as I glanced at my father and wondered whether he was angry on account of what I had proposed.
“That is settled then,” he said quietly. “Jacob has been your spokesman; and now let me add my opinion that you have taken the right course. What I propose is this, that one of us stays and carries on the business here till the others have got the Arrowfield affair in full swing. Who will stay?”
There was no answer.
“Shall I?” said my father.