Deadwood Gamely sat on the fence still looking about him and whistling. Then, instead of bursting forth in derisive merriment as Pepsy dreaded he would do, he made an astonishing remark.
“I tell you what I’ll do,” he said. “You kids take care of the place and furnish the fruit and stuff and I’ll put up the coin for all the stuff you have to buy—chewing gum, and accessories, and souvenirs and junk that has to be got in the city, and we’ll share even. I’ll put up the capital and be a silent partner. How does that strike you? You two will be the active partners. We’ll make the thing go big. I mean what I say.”
“What’s a silent partner?” Pee-wee demanded.
“Oh, that’s just the fellow that puts up the money and keeps in the background sort of, and nobody knows he’s interested.”
“I’d rather be a noisy partner,” Pee-wee said. “I wouldn’t be silent for anybody, I wouldn’t.” Deadwood Gamely paused a moment, smiling. “No, but you could keep a secret, couldn’t you?” he asked.
CHAPTER XI
TWO IS A COMPANY—THREE IS BAD LUCK
Pee-wee and Pepsy were not agreed about allowing this third person to buy into their enterprise. Pepsy was suspicious because she could not understand it. But Pee-wee, quick to forget dislikes and trifling injuries, was strong for the new partner.
“He’s all right,” he told her, “and scouts are supposed to be kind and help people and maybe he wants to reform and we ought to help him get into business.”
“He’s a smarty and I hate him and three is bad luck,” was all that Pepsy could say. Then she broke down crying, “Miss Bellison hates him, too,” she sobbed, “and—and if people sit three in a seat in a wagon one of them dies inside of a year. Now you go and spoil it all by having three.”