"A goodly amount, I wager," Harvey responded. He took out a pencil and paper. "Medicine, 469.50; radio, 1,000; batteries, 199. Total—let's see—1668 buckos and 50 redsents. A goodly sum, as I told you."
He emptied his pockets of money, spread it out on the astrogation table and began counting. Finished, he looked up, troubled.
"How much did we have when we landed, Joseph?"
"Exactly 1668 buckos," Joe answered promptly.
"I can't understand it," said Harvey. "Instead of double our capital, we now have only 1668 buckos and 50 redsents!"
Feverishly, he returned to his pencil and paper.
"Drinking water, 790; battery water, free; meal, 328; planetoid man, 550. Total: 1668 buckos!" He stared at the figures. "We paid out almost as much as we took in," he said bitterly. "Despite our intensive efforts, we made the absurd sum of fifty redsents."
"Why, the dirty crook!" Joe growled.
But after a few moments of sad reflection, Harvey became philosophical. "Perhaps, Joseph, we are more fortunate than we realize. We were, after all, completely in Johnson's power. The more I ponder, the more I believe we were lucky to escape. And, anyhow, we did make fifty redsents on the swindler. A moral victory, my boy."
Joe, who had been sunk desparingly into a chair, now stood up slowly and asked: "Remember that bottle-opener we gave him?"