“Good!” he said. “I will take this and have it printed. It will make Bill and Ed sit up.”
Sam took a twenty-dollar bill from his pocket and gave it to the man.
“To pay for the printing,” he said. “And when we have them licked I am the man who will take the four per cent bonds.”
Jake scratched his head. “How much do you suppose the deal is worth to Crofts?”
“A million, or he would not bother,” Sam answered.
Jake folded the paper and put it in his pocket.
“This would make Bill and Ed squirm, eh?” he laughed.
Going home down the river the men, filled with beer, sang and shouted as the boats, guided by Sam and Jake, floated along. The night fell warm and still and Sam thought he had never seen the sky so filled with stars. His brain was busy with the idea of doing something for the people.
“Perhaps here in this town I shall make a start toward what I am after,” he thought, his heart filled with happiness and the songs of the tipsy workmen ringing in his ears.
All through the next few weeks there was an air of something astir among the men of Sam’s gang and about Ed’s hotel. During the evening Jake went among the men talking in low tones, and once he took a three days’ vacation, telling Ed that he did not feel well and spending the time among the men employed in the plough works up the river. From time to time he came to Sam for money.