"Ye can't claim tae hae a pr-rofit," Jock said, "until ye hae the actual money oot o' the beesiness. Never mind what the wise ones tell ye, profit is no' real profit unless it is a cash one which the beesiness can spare. Ye can't spare any money frae your business, so ye hae no real profit."
"How am I to pay the bonus to the men?" I asked.
"Ye can't," said Jock, "till ye stop increasing your stock so mooch."
"Look into this matter also," here Jock wagged his finger at me; "see that ye don't increase your stock investment wi'out increasing your sales correspondingly. If ye are the merchandiser I think ye are, ye'll try to cut doon stock investment and keep up your sales—and increase 'em, thus speeding up your turn-over.
"Remember," his parting words were, "never miss your interest on the farm mortgage. If ye do Blickens 'll tak it."
Do you wonder I felt worried? I felt as if the ground had been cut right from under my feet. To add to my troubles Stigler advertised a cut-rate sale on garden seeds!
CHAPTER XLIII
MARTIN SPRINGS A SURPRISE
The next week I went with Charlie Martin and Fred Barlow to Boston to buy the automobile accessories which we had decided upon when old man Barlow and I had fixed up that gasoline deal.
He had come to the house one evening and suggested it was time to get busy.