"Yes; I ain't in a hurry to travel in double harness. I'll wait till I am ready to leave Montana, with money enough to live handsomely at home.""You have got enough now.""But I may as well get more. I am only thirty years old, and Ican afford to work a few years longer.""I wish I could be sure of being worth fifty thousand dollars when I am your age.""You have been worth that, you tell me.""Yes, but I should value more money that I had made myself."Above five o'clock on Monday afternoon Mr. Pettigrew and Rodney reached Burton. It was a small village about four miles from the nearest railway station. An old fashioned Concord stage connected Burton with the railway. The driver was on the platform looking out for passengers when Jefferson Pettigrew stepped out of the car.
"How are you, Hector?" said the miner, in an off hand way.
"Why, bless my soul if it isn't Jeff!" exclaimed the driver, who had been an old schoolmate of Mr. Pettigrew's.
"I reckon it is," said the miner, his face lighting up with the satisfaction he felt at seeing a home face.
"Why, you ain't changed a mite, Jeff. You look just as you did when you went away. How long have you been gone?""Four years!""Made a fortune? But you don't look like it. That's the same suit you wore when you went away, isn't it?"Mr. Pettigrew laughed.
"Well no, it isn't the same, but it's one of the same kind.""I thought maybe you'd come home in a dress suit.""It isn't so easy to make a fortune, Hector.""But you have made something, ain't you?""Oh, yes, when I went away I hadn't a cent except what I borrowed. Now I've got five hundred dollars.""That ain't much.""No, but it's better than nothing. How much more have you got, Hector?""Well, you see I married last year. I haven't had a chance to lay by.""So you see I did as well as if I had stayed at home.""Are you going to stay home now?""For a little while. I may go back to Montana after a bit.""Is it a good place to make money?""I made five hundred dollars."
"Thats only a little more than a hundred dollars a year.
Frank Dobson has saved as much as that and he's stayed right here in Burton.""I'm glad of that," said Pettigrew heartily. "Frank is a rousing good fellow. If it hadn't been for him I couldn't have gone to Montana.""It doesn't seem to have done you much good, as I can see.""Oh, well, I am satisfied. Let me introduce my friend, Mr.
Rodney Ropes of New York."
"Glad to meet you," said Hector with a jerk of the head.
"Rodney, won't you sit inside? I want to sit outide with Hector.""All right, Mr. Pettigrew.""Who is that boy?" asked Hector with characteristic Yankee curiosity, as he seized the lines and started the horses.
"A rich young fellow from New York. I got acquainted with him there.""Rich is he?" Jefferson Pettigrew nodded.
"How rich do you think?"
"Shouldn't wonder if he might be worth a hundred thousand.""You don't say! Why, he beat Squire Sheldon.""Oh, yes, Squire Sheldon wouldn't be considered rich in New York.""How did he get his money?""His father left him a fortune."
"Is that so? I wish my father had left me a fortune.""He did, didn't he?""Yes, he did! When his estate was settled I got seventy five dollars, if you call that a fortune. But I say, what brings the boy to Burton?""His friendship for me, I expect. Besides he may invest in a place.""There's the old Morse place for sale. Do you think he'd buy that?""It wouldn't be nice enough for him. I don't know any place that would be good enough except the squire's.""The squire wouldn't sell.""Oh, well, I don't know as Rodney would care to locate in Burton.""You're in luck to get such a friend. Say, do you think he would lend you a hundred dollars if you were hard up?""I know he would. By the way, Hector, is there any news?
How is my uncle?"
"I think the old man is worrying on account of his mortgage.""Who holds it?""The squire. They do say he is goin' to foreclose. That'll be bad for the old man. It'll nigh about break his heart I expect.""Can't uncle raise the money to pay him?""Who is there round here who has got any money except the squire?""That's so.""Where are you goin' to stop, Jeff?"
"I guess I'll stop at the tavern tonight, but I'll go over and call on uncle this evening."
