"I don't know how to play billiards."
"Well, at tenpins, then. I think you know how to play tenpins, and they have a capital alley in this saloon."
Now, Eben did know how to play tenpins, and was fond of the game. He hesitated, but only for a minute.
"No, thank you, Tom. Mr. Antis told me particularly not to go to any saloon."
"Fiddle-de-dee for Mr. Antis! He ain't your father, and if he was, he isn't here. Come along, and don't be such a great baby! I'll pay for you, and like as not you'll make some money, for I know you are a good player. I won five dollars there the other day."
Eben remembered Jem Carter's words about the first bet. "No, Tom, I can't go to a saloon, and I won't, so don't ask me. How do you like the dry goods business?"
"Oh, I have left there. I couldn't stand it."
"Why, what a fellow you are to change about!" said Eben. "You will be one of the rolling stones that gather no moss, if you don't mind. What was the matter this time?"
"Enough was the matter," said Tom, sulkily. "I guess you wouldn't find it very pleasant to stand behind a counter all day, pulling down things just to put them up again, and getting a precious blowing up if you didn't have everything just so, or answered back anybody's impudence. It was enough to make anybody mad."
"If you don't do anything till you find everything just right, you won't do much," said Eben, sagely.