“I reckon I got sixty dollars,” sez Spider.
“I don’t mean just what you got with ya, I mean how much cash do you possess in the world.”
“I suppose I could raise a hundred an’ fifteen,” sez Spider, after thinkin’ a while. “What do you want to know for?”
“We got to give Eugene a start,” sez I.
Spider looked at me until he saw I was in earnest, an’ then he talked out loud. “What’s the matter with you?” he yells. “We haven’t adopted Eugene, have we? Why-for do we have to give him a start? Didn’t he lose at his own game. Great Snakes! You make me tired!”
“That was a low-down trick we played,” sez I.
“It wasn’t no lower down ’n him ringin’ in a woodchuck on the old man; and all we did it for was to square things up.”
“Yes,” sez I; “but it took us some several years to square it up, and I don’t intend to have Eugene’s moanful voice surgin’ through my ears until I’m able to think up a come-back for him. I’m goin’ to give him a start, and if you don’t feel like riskin’ your money, I’ll do it alone.”
“Do you mean ’at you’re just goin’ to pay over the price of his tools, an’ let it go at that?” sez Spider.
“That wouldn’t be any fun,” sez I. “I’m goin’ to get the tools; but I intend to get ’em for as little expense as possible, and if I can have a little fun out of it, I don’t intend to pass it up.”