"You wouldn't, hey? What did you get in the shoe shop?"
"Four dollars a week."
"Board's worth that, so I give you what's equal to four dollars and a half."
Bert had heard something of the kind of board supplied by the farmer, and he was hardly prepared to rate it so high.
"It wouldn't be worth that to me," he said. "I would rather work for three dollars and a half in cash, and board at home."
"I've got to have my boy in the house," said Silas Wilson decidedly. "Come, now, what do you say?"
He regarded Bert with some anxiety, for he had been suddenly left in the lurch by a hired man who had received a better offer elsewhere, and hardly knew where to turn for assistance.
"I'll tell you what I'll do," said Bert. "I've got to go to New York on Thursday on business, but I'll come and work for you till Wednesday night for half a dollar and my board."
"I'll give you thirty-five cents," replied the farmer cautiously.
Bert shook his head.