“So it is.”
“I don’t see but I can save up pretty much all I make,” said Joe.
“Certainly you can.”
In two days Joe, who was naturally quick and whose natural shrewdness was sharpened by his personal interest, mastered the details of the business, and felt that he could manage alone.
“Mr. Brock,” said he, “you promised to stay with me three days, but I won’t insist upon the third day. I think I can get along well without you.”
“If you can, I shall be glad to leave you at once. The fact is, a friend of mine starts for the mines to-morrow, and I would like to accompany him. I asked him to put it off a day, but he thinks he can’t.”
“Go with him, by all means. I can get along.”
So, on the morning of the third day, Joe found himself alone.
At the end of the first week he made a careful estimate of his expenses and receipts, and found, to his astonishment, that he had cleared two hundred dollars. It seemed to him almost incredible, and he went over the calculations again and again. But he could figure out no other result.
“Two hundred dollars in one week!” he said to himself. “What would Oscar say to that? It seems like a fairy tale.”