Donald and Jimmie were silent; the undertaking was too vast to be comprehended in a moment.
"Let"s have Archie," said Jimmie, at last.
"An" poor ol" Bagg," said Donald.
"We"ll have Archie if he"ll come," Billy agreed, "an" Bagg if we can stow un away."
There was a long, long silence, during which the three boys began to dream in an amazing way.
"Billy," Donald North asked, at last, "what you goin" t" do with your part o" the money we"ll make at tradin"?"
It was a quiet evening on the coast; and from the deck of the sloop, where she lay in harbour, the boys looked away to a glowing sunset, above the inland hills and wilderness.
"I don"t know," Billy replied. "What you goin" t" do with your share, Jimmie?"
"Don"t know," said Jimmie, seriously. "What you goin" t" do with yours, Donald?"
"I isn"t quite made up my mind," said Donald, with an anxious frown.
"I "low I"ll wait an" see what Archie does with his."
The three boys stowed away in the little cabin of the _Rescue_ very early that night. They were to set sail for Ruddy Cove at dawn of the next morning.
Archie Armstrong, now returned from the Miquelon Islands and relieved of his anxiety concerning that adventure by his father"s letter, was heart and soul for trading. But he scorned the little _Rescue_. It was merely that she was too small, he was quick to add; she was trim and fast and stout, she possessed every virtue a little craft could have, but as for trading, on any scale that half-grown boys could tolerate, she was far too small. If a small venture could succeed, why shouldn"t a larger one? What Archie wanted--what he determined they should have--was a thirty-ton schooner. Nothing less would do. They must have a thirty-ton fore-an"-after with Bill o" Burnt Bay to skipper her.
The _Heavenly Home_? Not at all! At any rate, Josiah Cove was to take that old basket to the Labrador for the last cruise of the season.
Jimmie Grimm laughed at Archie.
"What you laughing at?" Archie demanded, with a grin.
Jimmie couldn"t quite tell; but the truth was that the fisherman"s lad could never get used to the airy, confident, masterful way of a rich man"s son and a city-bred boy.
"Look you, Archie!" said Billy Topsail, "where in time is you goin" t"
get that schooner?"
"The _On Time_," was the prompt reply. "We"ll call her the _Spot Cash_."
Billy realized that the _On Time_ might be had. Also that she might be called the _Spot Cash_. She had lain idle in the harbour since her skipper had gone off to the mines at Sidney to make more money in wages than he could take from the sea. But how charter her?
"Where you goin" t" get the stock?" Jimmie Grimm inquired.
"Don"t know whether I can or not," said Archie; "but I"m going to try my level best."
Archie Armstrong left for St. John"s by the next mail-boat. He was not the lad to hesitate. What his errand was the Ruddy Cove boys knew well enough; but concerning the prospect of success, they could only surmise. However, Archie wouldn"t be long. Archie wasn"t the lad to be long about anything. What he undertook to do he went right _at_!
"If he can only do it," Billy Topsail said.
Jimmie Grimm and Donald North and Bagg stared at Billy Topsail like a litter of eager and expectant little puppies. And Bill o" Burnt Bay stood like a wise old dog behind. If only Archie could!
[5] As related in "The Adventures of Billy Topsail."
CHAPTER XXIII
_In Which Sir Archibald Armstrong Is Almost Floored By a Business Proposition, But Presently Revives, and Seems to be About to Rise to the Occasion_
Sir Archibald Armstrong was a colonial knight. His decoration--one of Her late Majesty"s birthday honours--had come to him for beneficent political services to the colony in time of trouble and ruin. He was a Newfoundlander born and bred (though educated in the English schools); and he was fond of saying in a pleasantly boastful way and with a little twinkle of amus.e.m.e.nt in his sympathetic blue eyes: "I"m a fish-merchant, sir--a Newfoundland fish-merchant!" This was quite true, of course; but it was only half the truth. Directly or indirectly, Sir Archibald"s business interests touched every port in Newfoundland, every harbour of the Labrador, the markets of Spain and Portugal, of the West Indies and the South American Republics.
Sir Archibald was alone in his cozy office. The day was raw and wet.
There was a blazing fire in the grate--an agreeable bit of warmth and brightness to contrast with the rain beating on the window-panes.
A pale little clerk put his head in at the door. "Beg pardon, sir," he jerked. "Master Archie, sir."
"Master Archie!" Sir Archibald exclaimed.
Archie entered.
"What"s this?" said Sir Archibald, in amazement. "Back from Ruddy Cove?"
"On business," Archie replied.
Sir Archibald laughed pleasantly.
"Don"t make fun of me, father," said Archie. "I"m in dead earnest."
"How much is it, son?" This was an ancient joke between the two. Both laughed.
"You"d be surprised if you knew," the boy returned. "But look here, father! please don"t take it in that way. I"m really in earnest."
"It"s money, son," Sir Archibald insisted. "I know it is."
"Yes," said Archie, with a grave frown; "it _is_ money. It"s a good deal of money. It"s so much money, dad, that you"ll sit up when you hear about it."
Sir Archibald looked sharply into his son"s grave eyes. "Ahem!" he coughed. "Money," he mused, "and a good deal of it. What"s the trouble, son?"
"No trouble, father," said Archie; "just a ripping good chance for fun and profit."
Sir Archibald moved to the chair behind a broad flat-top desk by the window. This was the queer little throne from which all business problems were viewed. It was from the shabby old chair--with a broad window behind--that all business judgments were delivered. Did an outport merchant want credit in any large way, it was from the opposite chair--with the light falling full in his face through the broad window--that he put the case to Sir Archibald. Archie sat down in that chair and leaned over the desk. Sir Archibald stretched his legs, put his hands deep in his pockets, let his chin fall on his breast and stared searchingly into his son"s face. The rain was driven noisily against the windows; the fire crackled and glowed. As between the two at the desk there was a momentary silence.
"Well?" said Sir Archibald, shortly.
"I want to go trading," Archie replied.