Sir Archibald shrugged his shoulders. Then his eyes twinkled, his sides began to shake, and he threw back his head and burst into a roar of laughter, in which Archie and his mother––they were all at dinner––joined him.
“Why, dad,” Archie exclaimed, with vast enthusiasm, “the firm of Topsail, Armstrong, Grimm & Company is going to give the people of White Bay such a good time this summer that 222 they’ll never deal with anybody else. And we’re going to give them the worth of their money, too––every penny’s worth. On a cash basis we can afford to. We’re going into business to build up a business; and when I come back from that English school next summer it’s going to go right ahead.”
Sir Archibald admitted the good prospect.
“Pity the poor Black Eagle!” said Archie, grinning.
Lady Armstrong finished Señor Fakerino’s gorgeously spangled crimson robe and high-peaked hat that night and Archie completed a very masterpiece of white beard. Afterwards, Archie packed his trunks. When he turned in at last, outward bound next day by the cross-country mixed train, he had the satisfaction of knowing that he had stowed the phonograph, the printing-press and type, the signal flags, the magical apparatus and Fakerino costume and the new accordion; and he knew––for he had taken pains to find out––that the stock of trading goods, which he had bought with most anxious discrimination, was packed and directed and waiting at the station, consigned to Topsail, Armstrong, Grimm & Company, General Merchants, Ruddy Cove, Newfoundland.
When the mail-boat made Ruddy Cove, Archie was landed, in overflowing spirits, with his boxes and bales and barrels and trunks and news. The following days were filled with intense activity. Topsail, Armstrong, Grimm & Company chartered the On Time in due form; and with the observance of every legal requirement she was given a new name, the Spot Cash. They swept and swabbed her, fore and aft; they gave her a line or two of gay paint; they fitted her cabin with shelves and a counter and her forecastle with additional bunks; and Bill o’ Burnt Bay went over her rigging and spars. While Jimmie Grimm, Bobby North and Bagg unpacked the stock and furnished the cabin shelves and stowed the hold, Billy Topsail and Archie turned to on the advertising.
The printing-press was set up in Mrs. Skipper William’s fish-stage. Billy Topsail––who had never seen the like––stared open-mouthed at the operation.
“We got to make ’em buy,” Archie declared.
“H-h-how?” Billy stammered.