A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
It was not a long walk from the hogshead home to the house which Mrs.
Green proposed to turn into a place where meals and lodgings could be
procured on a limited scale; but neither Ben nor Johnny lost any
opportunity of stopping to gaze in at the lighted windows that served
as mirrors, in order to make sure that their attire had not been
disarranged in any way by their rapid walk. And when they stood in
front of the door, it seemed to Paul as if they never would get ready
to ring the bell, so much time did they spend in making sure that
their fine toilets were quite in order, and the general effect
satisfactory.
But they did ring the bell at last, and when Nelly came to the door
there was no mistaking the fact that their appearance was striking in
the highest degree; for the girl stood regarding them with so much
astonishment that it was some time before she could invite them to
walk in.
As Ben told Dickey Spry, when they got home that night, it "jest took
the eyes outer Mother Green an' Nelly to see them lookin' as soft as
silk an' fine as fiddlers."
After the embarrassment caused by their costumes had passed away in a
degree, although Nelly did not seem to recover from her surprise
during the entire evening, Mrs. Green proceeded to the business on
hand by showing the boys two rooms, furnished with no pretensions to
elegance, but as neat as they were bare, which she told them she would
let to four boys at the moderate price of two dollars and a half each
per week, including meals and washing.
To Paul the difference was so great between the place and the one they
were then occupying, that he was anxious to go there at once, and the
others were quite as eager as he was. Ben was sure that he could induce
Dickey to make the fourth in that perfection of boarding-houses, as he
knew it would prove to be; and in case he should not succeed in
convincing Master Spry that it would be better for him to live there
rather than in his hogshead, he promised to use all his eloquence on
Mopsey Dowd, or some other equally eligible party.
Thus it was decided that the boys should change their home on the
following day, and all hands were remarkably well pleased; Mrs. Green
because four boarders would bring in a weekly amount of ten dollars,
and the boys because at last they were to live like other people.
It would not be a difficult matter to move, for two coats, rather the
worse for wear, and three old tomato cans were all the property they
had to bring; Paul's tops, which constituted his baggage, could be
carried in the pocket of his jacket without any trouble.
When they got back to the hogshead that night, and told Dickey of the
important change they were about to make, he read them a very severe
lesson on the sinfulness of extravagance. It was perhaps a trifle more
pointed than it would have been if he had not just been made bankrupt
by the perfidy of a friend. But it was both time and labor thrown away
to try to induce him to become a fourth boarder at Mrs. Green's. He
positively refused to listen to the scheme, after it had been
described to him, and the conversation ended by his buying back his
old home at the original price, agreeing to pay ten cents each week as
soon as he should be once more firmly established in business.
That night Paul had an attack of homesickness; but, being very tired,
he went to sleep before it became so bad as to be noticed by his
friends.
On the following morning Paul went about his work quite as if he had
been accustomed to that sort of thing for some time; and owing to the
fact that the papers contained an account of a terrible railroad
disaster, trade was remarkably good with him and Johnny, and
correspondingly bad with Ben. Three times during the morning they sold
out their entire stock, and Paul was so excited by the rush, as well
as the amount of money they were making, that he quite forgot his
troubles.
When dinner-time came, Paul and Johnny had cleared two dollars and
ninety cents, with a fair prospect of making as much more in the
afternoon, since additional particulars of the accident were being
received hourly. Ben had only made thirty cents; but he and Johnny had
always been in partnership, dividing equally the profits of both, and
the same arrangement held good after Paul was taken into the concern.
It was decided that Ben should give up his business of boot-blackening
that afternoon, and sell papers with the others, so he carried his box
to a friend who had a fancy-goods stand in the door-way of an
unoccupied store, where he left it until he should finish his day's
work. Each paper that Paul sold that day had the same advertisement
offering a reward for any tidings of him, but since he never looked at
what his wares contained, save to read the head-lines in large letters
so as to get an idea what he should cry out, it did him as little good
as if it had never been there.
Fortunately for the boys, as the demand for papers was so great and
continued so long, Mrs. Green had set eight o'clock as the hour when
they would have dinner. By this plan she would have plenty of time to
cook it, and all hands would be through work and possessed of plenty
of leisure for eating. Therefore they continued the trade in news
until half-past seven, and then hurried for the last time to their
hogshead, where they found Dickey Spry eating his supper of crackers
and cheese.
The process of finding out exactly how much they had made was a long
and difficult one for both Ben and Johnny. Each time they counted it
over it was with a different result. When they were very warm, almost
angry, and quite positive that the fault of the difference in
reckoning was in the money itself, Paul took it upon himself to find
out the amount of cash on hand.
Four dollars and eighty-three cents was the grand total of their
earnings that day, and all hands were pleasantly surprised by the
prosperity that had beamed upon them.
Of course they could not expect such a result except on days when the
papers contained some important news; but business would be sure to be
good on the following morning, because then all the details of the
accident would have been received. After that perhaps Ben's business
would have an impetus given it by some friendly shower.
At the end of the week they would owe Mrs. Green seven dollars and a
half for the board of the firm, and Ben's proposition was unanimously
adopted that they pay four dollars of that amount in advance,
retaining the eighty-three cents as a working capital for their
business the next day.
There was no attempt made to put on any better appearance than usual
when they started for Mrs. Green's that night, for now that they were
members of her family. They would be obliged to go there just as they
were when they finished their work, and they might as well show
themselves as they would be on future occasions. Ben attempted to take
quite an elaborate and affecting farewell of Master Spry, but that
young gentleman refused utterly anything more than the ordinary
expressions of parting.
"You'll be back in less'n a month, wantin' to live here agin," he
said, as, seated in the farthest corner of the hogshead, he looked out
frowningly at their preparations for departure. "You can't swell very
long at the rate of two dollars'n half a week, an' you'll be glad to
crawl in here agin."
Ben thought that it was not exactly wise to say very much against this
assertion of Dickey's, for it was just possible that he was right,
and the less that was said about the matter then the easier it would
be to take up their abode there again in case they were obliged to.
Each of the three boys took a tomato can, while Ben and Johnny
carried, in addition, the coats in which they had arrayed themselves
the night before, and in this manner they started for their new
boarding-house. They were late; but Mrs. Green, knowing of the
activity in the newspaper market, had expected they would be, and had
made her preparations accordingly.
Paul felt wonderfully relieved at being able to wash himself with soap
once more, and to have a towel to use, while it seemed as if Ben and
Johnny never would make themselves ready to go to the table, so
interested were they in the very "swell" thing of combing their hair
before a looking-glass.
"I tell yer it's high!" said Ben, emphatically, as he took up the
towel, and then wiped his hands on the skirts of his coat lest he
should soil it--"it's high, an' if we keep on at this rate we shall
jest spread ourselves all over the block before we git through with
it."
Johnny shook his head sagely, still unable to stop combing his hair in
front of the glass, as if he wondered where all this luxury would lead
them, while Paul contrasted this poorly furnished room, which his
companions thought so magnificent, with what he had been accustomed
to at home.
Mrs. Green succeeded in getting her boarders away from the
contemplation of their surroundings by reminding them, in a very
forcible voice, that everything would be spoiled if they waited much
longer. They took their places at the table, and Ben and Johnny were
in a dream of surprise during the meal, which was, as Ben afterwards
told Mopsey, "one of the swellest dinners ever got up in New York
City."
After they had eaten as much as they wanted--and it seemed as if they
never would get enough, so good did it taste--Nelly showed the
boarders through the rooms, which were above a store. There were two
floors divided into five rooms, and an attic which could be of no use
except as a store-room, because of the fact that it was hardly more
than five feet from the floor to the roof.
Ben was highly delighted with everything he saw, Paul expressed
neither surprise nor pleasure, and Johnny was not enthusiastic until
he saw the attic. The moment he was taken there, a gigantic idea
seemed to have come to him very suddenly, and he stood in the centre
of the place almost too much excited to give words to the thoughts
that crowded upon him.
"Fellers!" he cried, and he repeated it twice before he could say any
more--"fellers! do you know what we can do up here?"
Now it is possible that both Ben and Paul could have thought of very
many things they could do in a space as large as that attic; but since
they did not know what Johnny referred to, they shook their heads
negatively, and waited for him to tell them what it was that had so
excited him.
"We can jest fix things up here, an' have a theatre--a reg'lar
theatre, an' make more money than--than--well, all we want."
And then in a very excited way he went on to tell them just what could
be done to transform the place into as beautiful a theatre, save in
one or two unimportant details, as could be found in the city.
Nelly stood by, looking first at one and then the other of the boys in
mute surprise, while Paul, delighted at the idea of making a large sum
of money at one bold stroke, and being saved thereby from weary days
of waiting and working before he could return to his home, listened
attentively.
[Illustration: "FELLERS! DO YOU KNOW WHAT WE CAN DO UP HERE?"]
Ben agreed with all his partner said, but he advised that Mrs. Green
be consulted as to the scheme before they went very far in deciding
what work they would be obliged to do in order to transform the place
from a rather dreary attic into a theatre. It then occurred to Johnny
that Mrs. Green might object to such a plan, and he hastened
down-stairs to consult with her at once. After considerable argument,
during which he set forth as prominently as possible the enormous
amount of money that could be earned, of which she should have a fair
share, Johnny succeeded in gaining Mrs. Green's consent to the plan.
After that the boys went to bed, almost too much excited at the
prospect of being managers and proprietors of a theatre to be able to
sleep.