"'Pon honor?" added Dock, earnestly.
"Yes; 'pon honor. Nobody ever knowed me to say nothin' about business. I never trust nobody, not even my wife, with business matters."
"Sit down, squire, and we'll talk it over between us," replied Dock, apparently satisfied with the old man's promise.
Mr. Fairfield, with some difficulty, seated himself on the rock, and with glaring eyes—so interested was he in a project which was to put twenty thousand dollars in his pocket—he listened to the rather prolix explanations of his companion. For twenty thousand dollars he would have sold his soul; but he was timid.
"I never fail in doing a thing without wanting to try it over again," Dock began. "I always put things through when I begin upon them."
The old man was not quite sure of this, but he did not interrupt the speaker.
"Three years ago twenty thousand dollars slipped through my fingers just as easy as though the money had been greased," continued Dock.
"I didn't know on't."
"Yes, you did. Watson had his money all ready to pay over to me when I had the girl before, and if Levi Fairfield hadn't come between me and him, I should have had the money. Now, Squire Fairfield, I'm going to try that over again; and I'm not going to fail this time. I've got things fixed so that I can't fail."
"I donno about that," said the old man.