I handed back the list.
The Swede stared at it and then over at me.
"Ain't you goin' to fill this?"
"No!"
"Well, I'll be gosh-dinged! Say! sonny,—there'll be a hearse here for you to-morrow. The boss wrote this."
"How am I to know that?" I retorted.
"Damned if I know," he returned, scratching his forelock. "But it'll be merry hell to pay if we go back without this bunch of dope."
"And it might be the devil to pay, if I gave you the goods without a proper order," I followed up.
"Some of this stuff's for to-morrow's grubstake," put in the Swede, "and most of the hardware's wanted for a job first crack out of the box in the morning."
"Sorry to disoblige you, fellows," I said sincerely, "but your boss should not have run so close to the wind. Further, I am going to work this store right and that from the very beginning."