I swung round on the settee and looked him square in the eye.
"I—see," I says, slow. "Now—I see! He's after money and he wants us to lend it to him. I might have guessed it. Well, did you say no right off? or was you waitin' to have me say it? You might have said it yourself. You knew I'd back you up."
Would you believe it? he got as red as a beet.
"I didn't say anything," he says. "Don't go off half-cocked like that. What's the matter with you this mornin'? He don't want to borrer money. He wants more capital in the proposition—wants to float it right. And he's been inquirin' around and has found that you and me are the two leadin' business men in the place and has come to us first. It's more a favor on his part than anything else. He offers to let us have a third interest between us; you put in a thousand and I do the same. Why, man, it's a cinch! It's a chance that don't come every day. As I told you, I've had the same notion in my head for a long time. A summer dinin'-room like that in this town is—"
"Wait!" I interrupted. "What do you know about this Frank critter? Where'd he come from? Who is he?"
"He comes from Pittsburg. That's the last place he was in. And he's got his pockets full of references and testimonials."
"Humph! Anybody can get testimonials. Write 'em himself, if there wa'n't any other way. I had a second mate once with more testimonials than shirts, enough sight, and he—"
"Oh, cut it out! Besides, I don't care where he comes from. He's sharp as a steel trap; that much I can tell with one eye shut. And he's run dinin'-rooms and hotels; that I'll bet my hat on. That's all we need to know. A road-house in this town is a twenty per cent proposition durin' the summer months. It's the chance of a lifetime, I tell you."
"Maybe so. But how do you know the feller's honest?"
"I don't care whether he's honest or not. It doesn't make any difference. If I wa'n't here to keep my eye peeled, it might be; but I'll be here and if he gets ahead of me, he'll be movin' to some extent. Someone else'll grab the chance if we don't. I'm for it. What do you say?"