“Nonsense!” exclaimed the stranger. “Twenty dollars! why, she is worth fifty, if she is worth a cent, and I couldn’t think of offering any less for her. Say fifty and we’ll call it a bargain.”
Was there ever such a generous and honest man? Both Arthur and Uncle Phin thought there never was, as they gladly accepted this magnificent offer, and thanked him for it besides.
“Now,” said the stranger, “business is business, and I should like to take possession of the boat at once; while I presume you are anxious to pursue your journey. If you will just step up-town with me to my bank, I will pay you the fifty dollars, and on the way I will show you the station of the railroad that goes to Virginia. Then we’ll get a team to come down here for your baggage, and you’ll be all right.”
Neither Arthur nor the old negro could think of any particular baggage that they wished to carry with them, unless it was their bedding, and Uncle Phin’s axe, and they told the stranger so. He said they might think of something else after they had got their money, and that at any rate they had better go up-town with him and secure it at once.
Arthur suggested that it might not be safe to leave the boat all alone, and proposed that Uncle Phin go for the money, while he and Rusty stayed behind to guard it.
“Oh, that’s all right,” said the stranger. “You never knew such honest folks as live round here. They wouldn’t touch anything that didn’t belong to them for the world. Besides I want you both to sign the bill of sale, and the receipt for the money.”
So, after carefully closing the cabin doors and windows, the trusting old man, and the boy, ignorant as yet of the world’s wickedness, accompanied the plausible stranger up-town. Arthur led Rusty by a bit of rope fastened to the leathern collar Uncle Phin had made for him, and had some difficulty in keeping him at a safe distance from the stranger, toward whom the dog seemed to have taken the greatest dislike. Moved by some impulse that he could not have explained, the boy had also taken his precious book from its shelf, at the last moment, and now carried it under his arm.
The stranger continued to be very polite and entertaining, as they walked through the crowded streets, and pointed out several places of interest, among others the railway station from which they were to take the train for Virginia.
They walked so far that Arthur began to grow tired, and was very glad when they at length entered a fine building, above the doorway of which he read the word “Bank” in large letters. Here both the old man and the boy were awed and bewildered by the imposing appearance of the interior into which they were ushered. They wondered at the number of desks, at which busy clerks sat writing behind a high and strong iron grating, and at the crowds of people who stood in long lines before the little windows in it, or passed hurriedly to and fro. Leading them to a retired corner, out of the throng, their guide bade them wait there for a few minutes, while he prepared the papers that it would be necessary for them to sign, and procured the fifty dollars. Then he mingled with the crowd of men about them, and disappeared.
For fifteen minutes or so, the attention of the old man and the boy was fully occupied by the novel scenes about them, and in keeping Rusty quiet. Then they began to watch anxiously for the stranger’s return, and to grow somewhat uneasy over his nonappearance. When half an hour had passed, they were thoroughly alarmed, and began to walk up and down the crowded space, in front of the iron grating, peering wistfully into the faces of those who filled it, but without seeing him whom they sought.