When he returned his companions knew from the expression on his face, before he made a report, that the mission had been successful.
"She says if we keep quiet an' don't have a crowd hangin' round, or too many visitors, that we needn't pay any more for three than we do for two. I didn't think that would be jest the square thing, an' besides, we couldn't divide half a dollar up in three parts, so I told her we'd call it sixty cents, an' that will make the lodgin' come mighty cheap for all hands of us."
"When are you willin' I should come?" Bill Dean asked eagerly.
"Then I'll start right in to-night an' pay the same as you fellers do, for you've only got one day ahead of me."
And thus the matter was settled to the manifest delight of the new lodger.
The feast was an unusually satisfactory one on this particular evening.
Seth was as happy as a boy well could be because of the good fortune which had come to him through Ninety-four's men; Bill believed himself unusually lucky in having secured such desirable lodgings at an exceedingly low price; and Master Roberts had suddenly conceived an idea which seemed to him a remarkably happy one.
Not until his hunger had been appeased did Dan give words to his new train of thoughts, and then he announced with the air of one who has made a great discovery:
"If Seth hadn't laid himself right out to get into the Department, an' stuck to it whether the fellers were makin' fun of him or not, he wouldn't be wearin' that uniform now, would he? Course not. If I keep on sellin' papers an' don't try to do anything else, I'll never get some other kind of a job, will I? Course not. Now, I've made up my mind to own a store on Third Avenoo where I'll sell papers, an' books, an' sich truck, an' keep a lot of kids to do the outside work."