"Hurrah for you," exclaimed Tom, as he took the bills. "Our fortune's made, sure enough;" and catching Bob by the arm, he danced him about the wharf as if he had suddenly lost his wits.
"I knew you wouldn't let this splendid chance slip through your fingers!" he continued, leading the fisher-boy off on one side, so that they might converse without fear of being overheard. "When the money comes I'll divide with you honestly. You are not afraid to trust me?"
"O no!" was the reply. "But are you sure those men will send you that prize?" (The fisher-boy knew what Tom's answer would be. All he wanted was encouragement.)
"Certainty I am!" said Tom, emphatically. "If I didn't know it, do you suppose I would risk my money in it? Didn't they make the offer themselves, and don't they say that they have agents in every civilized country on the globe? Do you suppose that men known all over the world as they are would dare cheat any body? You need not be afraid. They are business men. I know that, because this letter-paper is printed, just like father's; and they will not injure their reputation by making false promises. They have too much at stake. I knew you would give me a favorable answer, and so I wrote to them."
As Tom spoke he pulled a letter out of his pocket and handed it to the fisher-boy.
It conveyed to E. H. Harris and Company the information that Tom was perfectly willing to act as their agent, and that if they would keep their promise, and send him the five thousand dollars, he would show it to every man, woman, and child in Newport. He told them that they would find him to be the most faithful and obliging man in their employ. (Tom said man, because he was afraid the gentlemen might withdraw their offer, if they should learn that he was only a boy fifteen years of age.) He further informed them, that he was clerk in the largest commission house in the village, and that he was well enough acquainted with business to know that an agent could not hope to secure customers, unless he was very polite and accommodating; consequently, they might rest assured that he would always treat their patrons with the greatest kindness. All this, and a great deal more, did Tom say to the proprietors of the lottery; but his letter, besides being pretty well mixed up, was so badly written and spelled that it is doubtful if the men to whom it was addressed ever got at the sense of it.
When the fisher-boy had finished reading the letter he handed it back to Tom, who placed it in an envelope along with the ten dollars—five of his own money, and the five Bob had brought him—and carefully sealed it, saying as he did so, "You see that I put the money in the letter, don't you? Now, come with me to the post-office."
The fisher-boy would have been willing to entrust the business entirely in Tom's hands; but, to satisfy him, he saw the letter dropped into the box, and then took leave of his companion, who hurried back to the office. He found very little to be done there, and after loitering about for half an hour, put on his cap and went out again.
He was highly elated at the success of his plans thus far, and he found it exceedingly difficult to control himself. Sometimes he was tempted to hunt up some of his acquaintances and reveal to them his secret; but he could not forget that they had turned him out of the society of Night-hawks, without giving him an opportunity to say a word in his defense, and refused him admittance into their new organization. In his estimation, these were offenses that ought not to be forgiven. "I told them I would make them sorry for that," said he to himself, "and I wasn't joking. The Storm King will be just the thing for fishing parties and moonlight excursions, but not one of those fellows shall ever put a foot on her deck, until they are willing to apologize for what they have done. I heard one of them say that they would like to visit Block Island and rob some of the melon patches over there, if they only had a boat. Now, perhaps, when they see the Storm King, they will want her! They sha'n't have her; they may look somewhere else for a boat! Won't they be surprised when they learn that I am the captain and owner of the finest little craft in the village? How they will all envy me! That's the way I shall get even with them."