The other glared at him, baleful and baffled.
"Hullo, I said. Don"t you know me?"
"No, I don"t. Neither will your own family after I get through with you."
"Come off, Elpy; come off. I licked you once in the old days, and I guess I could do it now, but I don"t want to. Come and have a drink with old Andy."
"Andy? Andy the Spieler? Andy Certain?"
"Dr. L. Andre Surtaine, at your service. _Now_, will you shake?"
Still surly, Mr. McQuiggan hung back. "What about that roast?" he demanded.
"Wasn"t sure of you. Twenty years is a long time. But I knew if it was you you"d want to fight, and I knew if you didn"t want to fight it wasn"t you. I"ll buy you one in honor of the best little city west of the Mississip, and the best bunch of sports that ever came out of it, the McQuiggans of St. Jo, Missouri. Does that go?"
"It goes," replied the representative of the family concisely.
Across the cafe table Dr. Surtaine contemplated his old acquaintance with friendly interest.
"The same old sc.r.a.ppy Elpy," he observed. "What"s happened to you, since you used to itinerate with the Iroquois Extract of Life?"
"Plenty."
"You"re looking pretty prosperous."
"Have to, in my line."
"What is it?"
Mr. McQuiggan produced a card, with the legend:--
+-----------------------------------------+McQuiggan & StraightSTREAKY MOUNTAIN COPPER COMPANYOrsten, Palas County, Nev.L.P. MCQUIGGAN ARTHUR STRAIGHT_President_ _Vice-Pres. & Treas._+-----------------------------------------+
"Any good?" queried the Doctor.
"Best undeveloped property in the State."
"Why don"t you develop it?"
"Capital."
"Get the capital."
"Will you help me?"
"Sure."
"How?"
"Advertise."
"Advertising costs money."
"And brings two dollars for every one you spend."
"Maybe," retorted the other, with a skeptical air. "But my game is still talk."
"Talk gets dimes; print gets dollars," said his friend sententiously.
"You have to show me."
"Show you!" cried the Doctor. "I"ll write your copy myself."
"_You_ will? What do you know about mining?"
"Not a thing. But there isn"t much I don"t know about advertising. I"ve built up a little twelve millions, plus, on it. And I can sell your stock like hot cakes through the "Clarion.""
"What"s the "Clarion"?"
"My son"s newspaper."
"Thereby keeping the graft in the family, eh?"
"Don"t be a fool, Elpy. I"m showing you profits. Besides doing you a good turn, I"d like to bring in some new business to the boy. Now you take half-pages every other day for a week and a full page Sunday--"
"Pages!" almost squalled the little man. "D"you think I"m made of money?"
"Elpy," said Dr. Surtaine, abruptly, "do you remember my platform patter?"
"Like the multiplication table."
"Was it good?"
"Best ever!"
"Well, I"m a slicker proposition with a pen than I ever was with a spiel. And you"re securing my services for nothing. Come around to the office, man, and let me show you."
Still suspicious, Mr. McQuiggan permitted himself to be led away, expatiating as he went, upon the unrivaled location and glorious future of his mining property. From time to time, Dr. Surtaine jotted down an unostentatious note.
The first view of the Certina building dashed Mr. McQuiggan"s suspicions; his inspection of his old friend"s superb office slew them painlessly.
"Is this all yours, Andy? On the level? Did you do it all on your own?"
"Every bit of it! With my little pen-and-ink. Take a look around the walls and you"ll see how."
He seated himself at his desk and proceeded to jot down, with apparent carelessness, but in broad, sweeping lines, a type lay-out, while his guest pa.s.sed from advertis.e.m.e.nt to advertis.e.m.e.nt, in increasing admiration. Before Old Lame-Boy he paused, absolutely fascinated.
"I thought that"d get you," exulted the host, who, between strokes of the creative pen had been watching him.