I turned this over in my mind. "Humph!" I says. "I begin to see."
"You bet you do!" he says, laughin'. "The amount of stuff I can sell that restaurant will—"
But I broke in here. I remembered that wink and I didn't believe I was clear of the choppin'-block yet.
"Hold on!" says I. "Heave to! And never mind poundin' my starboard shoulder to pieces, either. I said I begun to see; I don't see clear yet. How did you and he come to get together in the fust place? Did you go and hunt him up? or did he come in here to see you?"
He kind of hesitated. "Why," he says, "he come into the store, and—"
"Did he happen in, or did he come to see you a-purpose?"
"He—I believe he came to see me. Then he and I—"
"Heave to again! He didn't come to see you to beg the favor of buyin' goods of you, 'tain't likely. Jim Jacobs, answer me straight. There's somethin' else. That feller wants somethin' of you—or of us. Now what is it?"
He hesitated some more. Then he upset the woodpile and let out the darky.
"Well," he says, "I'll tell you. I was goin' to tell you, anyway. Frank's all right. He's got a good idea and he's got the experience to put it into practice; but he's somethin' the way old Beanblossom was afore you took a share in this store—he needs a little more capital."