"He"s a hard case," said Mr. Merrill to Harry. "I am afraid he means to owe us for a long time to come."
"Where do you think he is gone?" asked Harry.
"I have no idea. He has evidently been saving up money to help him out of town. Sometime we may get upon his track, and compel him to pay up."
"That won"t do me much good," said Harry, despondently. And then he told the tailor why he wanted the money. "Now," he concluded, "I shan"t be able to have the money ready in time."
"You"ll have most of it ready, won"t you?"
"I think I will."
"I would lend you the money myself," said the tailor, "but I"ve got a heavy payment to meet and some of my customers are slow pay, though I have not many as bad as Luke Harrison."
"Thank you, Mr. Merrill," said Harry. "I am as much obliged to you as if you could lend the money."
But it is said that misfortunes never come singly. The very next day Mr.
Leavitt received a message from the wholesale dealer to whom he sold his shoes, that the market was glutted and sales slow.
"I shall not want any more goods for a month or two," the letter concluded. "I will let you know, when I more."
Mr. Leavitt read this letter aloud in the shop.
"So it seems we are to have a vacation," he said. "That"s the worst of the shoe trade. It isn"t steady. When it"s good everybody rushes into it, and the market soon gets overstocked. Then there"s no work for weeks."
This was a catastrophe for which Harry was no prepared. He heard the announcement with a grave face, for to him it was a serious calamity.
Twenty-three dollars were all that he had saved from the money lost and this would be increased by a dollar or two only, when he had settled up with Mr. Leavitt. If he stayed here did not obtain work, he must pay his board, and that would soon swallow up his money. Could he get work in any other shop? That was an important question.
"Do you think I can get into any other shop in town?" he inquired anxiously of Mr. Leavitt.
"You can try, Harry; but I guess you"ll find others no better off than I."
This was not very encouraging, but Harry determined not to give up without an effort. He devoted the next day to going around among the shoe shops; but everywhere he met with unfavorable answers. Some had ready suspended. Others were about to do so.
"It seems as if all my money must go," thought Harry, looking despondently at his little h.o.a.rd. "First the ten dollars Luke Harrison stole. Then work stopped. I don"t know but it would be better for me to go home."
But the more Harry thought of this, the less he liked it. It would be an inglorious ending to his campaign. Probably now he would not be able to carry out his plan of paying for the cow; but if his father should lose it, he might be able, if he found work, to buy him another Squire Green"s cow was not the only cow in the world and all would not be lost if he could not buy her.
"I won"t give up yet," said Harry, pluckily. "I must expect to meet with some bad luck. I suppose everybody does. Something"ll turn up for me if I try to make it."
This was good philosophy. Waiting pa.s.sively for something to turn up is bad policy and likely to lead to disappointment; but waiting actively, ready to seize any chance that may offer, is quite different. The world is full of chances, and from such chances so seized has been based many a prosperous career.
During his first idle day, Harry"s attention was drawn to a handbill which had been posted up in the store, the post office, the tavern, and other public places in the village. It was to this effect:
"PROFESSOR HENDERSON,
"The celebrated Magician,
"Will exhibit his wonderful feats of Magic and Sleight of Hand in the Town Hall this evening, commencing at 8 o"clock. In the course of the entertainment he will amuse the audience by his wonderful exhibition of Ventriloquism, in which he is unsurpa.s.sed.
"Tickets 25 cents. Children under twelve, 15 cents."
In a country village, where amus.e.m.e.nts are few, such entertainments occupy a far more important place than in a city, where amus.e.m.e.nts abound.
"Are you going to the exhibition, Walton?" asked Frank Heath.
"I don"t know," said Harry.
"Better come. It"ll be worth seeing."
In spite of his economy, our hero wanted to go.
"The professor"s stopping at the tavern. Come over, and we may see him,"
said Frank.
CHAPTER XXIII. THE VENTRILOQUIST
The boys went into the public room of the tavern. In the center was a stove, around which were gathered a miscellaneous crowd, who had a.s.sembled, as usual, to hear and talk over the news of the day. At the farther end of the room was a bar, where liquor and cigars were sold.
The walls of the room, which was rather low-studded, were ornamented by sundry notices and posters of different colors, with here and there an engraving of no great artistic excellence--one representing a horse race, another a steamer of the Cunard Line, and still another, the Presidents of the United States grouped together, with Washington as the central figure.
"Have a cigar, Walton?" asked Frank Heath.
"No, thank you, Frank."
"You haven"t got so far along, hey?"
"I don"t think it would do me any good," said Harry.
"Maybe not; but jolly comfortable on a cold night. The worst of it is, it"s mighty expensive."
Frank walked up to the bar and bought a ten-cent cigar. He returned and sat down on a settee.
"The magician isn"t here," said Harry.
"Hush, he is here!" said Frank, in a low voice, as the door opened, and a tall, portly man entered the room.
Professor Henderson--for it was he--walked up the bar, and followed Frank Heath"s example in the purchase of a cigar Then he glanced leisurely round the apartment. Apparently, his attention was fixed by our hero, for he walked up to him, and said: "Young man, I would like to speak to you."
"All right, sir," said Harry, in surprise.
"If you are not otherwise occupied, will you accompany me to my room?"
"Certainly, sir," returned Harry, in fresh wonder.