Left alone, the young men looked at each other.
“On the level now, Ned, what do you think of those birds?” asked Tom.
“I should call them eels instead of birds,” replied Ned. “They strike me as being just about as slippery as they come. It was all right, of course, trying to get better terms. That was just what any business men would do. But that matter of the check looked fishy to me. In the first place, he didn’t forget about it as he pretended to do. Men don’t forget a thing like that.”
“What do you suppose his idea was?” asked Tom.
“Just to get out of reach before we thought, of it. Then perhaps he thought that we’d go on with the work anyway so as to lose no time, since we’ve got to get it through in six weeks. We’d have to correspond with him about it, and he could palter and delay until we’d got so far along with the work that we’d go on with it anyway. And then when I nailed him down to it, did you see how he post-dated the check? Hair on the pen! Tell that to the marines. The idea was to make the check no good until nearly a week had passed. That would keep their money in the bank a week longer, or if they haven’t got the money now to meet it, they’d have a week to get the funds together to meet it when presented. They may be operating on a shoestring, anyway.
“Then, too, the check is on a San Francisco bank. That may be all right, but in the natural course of exchange it will take nearly a week to collect it. There again we’d be supposed to be well on our way with the work, so far in fact that we couldn’t back out. But they’ll get slipped up if they’re trying any funny business there, for I’ll telegraph the first thing to-morrow morning to find out whether the check is good, and you’d better not do a stroke of work on the contract until we’re sure it is.”
“I’m almost sorry we’ve undertaken the work,” said Tom.
“I’m not,” replied Ned. “Of course, it’s much more comfortable to feel that we’re dealing with perfectly responsible people, but we’ve got the thing sewed up so that we can’t lose, anyway. They might like to cheat us, but they can’t. In the first place, we won’t spend a penny until we’re absolutely sure of five thousand dollars. That will cover everything until the next payment comes due two weeks from now. If they renege then, we’ll stop and be money in pocket. If they pay, we’ll have received ten thousand dollars. The payments after that they’ll have to make, anyway, for they will already have paid more than they can afford to lose. We’ve got them every way.
“Then, too, we’ve got a nice little profit in this proposition. It may also open up a new line that will be big in possibilities. You know already what I think of oil. The demand already for oil-well machinery is greater than the supply, and I know of some factories that are running three shifts and working the whole twenty-four hours to keep up with their orders. With the new oil fields that are being opened up, that demand is bound to increase, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t get our share of the business. This first order will perhaps set us on the road to doing this. Then, too, I’m banking on your inventing something new that will be so good that every oil field will have to have it. You’ve never tackled anything yet that you haven’t improved upon.”
“Thanks for the bouquet,” said Tom, grinning.