When Robbie stepped off the train — he had come all the way from Bulgaria — both Beauty and Lanny were there to welcome him. He gave the latter a bear hug and the former a friendly handshake.'Hav-ing a wife in Connecticut, Robbie didn't stay at the house, but at the hotel near by. He and Lanny ran a race down to the boathouse to get into their swimming trunks, and when they were out in a boat, far enough from all prying ears, Robbie grinned and said: “Well, I landed that Bulgarian contract.”
“How did you do it?”
“I made a mistake as to the day of the week.”
“How did that help?” There were so many strange ways of landing contracts that the brightest boy in the world couldn't guess them.
“Well, I thought it was Thursday, and I bet a thousand dollars on it.”
“And you lost?”
“It was last Friday. We went to a kiosk on the corner and bought a Friday newspaper; and of course they couldn't have had that on Thursday.” The two exchanged grins.
Lanny could guess the story now; but he liked to hear it told in Robbie's way, so he asked: “You really paid the debt?”
“It was a debt of honor,” said the father gravely. “Captain Borisoff is a fine fellow, and I'm under obligations to him. He turned in a report that Budd carbines are superior to any on the market. They really are, of course.”
“Sure, I know,” said the boy. They were both of them serious about that; it was one of the fixed laws of the universe that Americans could beat Europeans at anything, once they put their minds to it. Lanny was glad; for he was an American, even though he had never set foot upon the land of the pilgrims' pride. He was glad that his father was able to outwit Zaharoff and all the other wolves and tigers of the munitions industry. Americans were the most honest people in the world, but of course if they had to, they could think up just as many smart tricks as any Levantine trader with Greek blood and a Russian moniker!