"Oh, ja, that is a good place to get gold. Well, my young vriend, I will sell cheap."
It will not be necessary to enter into a detailed account of the negotiation. It is enough to say that for the sum of seven hundred dollars Herr Schinkelwitz made over the business to Herr Tom, as he called him, and our hero found himself penniless, but the owner of a grocery. In half an hour it was all completed.
"Now, Tom, you are my boss," said Miles. "Shall I put your name outside?"
"No, John, put your own. I am only a silent partner, you know."
"I congratulate you, Tom," said Ferguson. "Here are two hundred dollars, for which you can give me your note."
"Two hundred?"
"Yes; you will need some yourself, besides what you send to your father."
"Suppose I can't pay you back?"
"Then I will levy on the grocery, my lad," said Ferguson.