“Different-sized factories cost different prices,” says the lawyer, with a smile. “You might start with a small one.” “I want to start with a big one. You make money quicker.” He stopped a minute and then he says, “You’re a reg’lar lawyer besides getting patents, hain’t you?” “Yes.” “Lawyers are pretty slick, hain’t they? They know all about schemes and sich things.” “They’re slick, all right,” says the man, and he smiled broader than ever. “And if I do say it as shouldn’t, I’m about the slickest of the whole lot.” Catty saw that he was joking and sort of grinned himself, but ’most generally Catty didn’t do a great deal of joking or grinning. He was too busy and had his mind set too much on being respectable. “I was wonderin’ if you could see through a scheme Wee-wee and me has been watching. We can’t make head nor tail to it, but we got it fixed in our minds that somebody’s goin’ to git cheated. Want to hear about it?” “Sure. How did you get interested in it? What’s it got to do with you?” “Nothin’ to do with us, only we don’t want to see folks git smouged. ’Course the folks don’t like Dad and me, but if we was to save ’em a lot of money, why, they couldn’t help feelin’ much obleeged, could they. You can’t keep on tryin’ to chase a man out of town if he’s saved you a lot of money.” “It wouldn’t seem so. Are they trying to chase you out of town?” “Yes. But we hain’t a-goin’ to go. We’re goin’ to stick there if we starve, and before long them folks is goin’ to take off their hats to us. You watch. I’m a-goin’ to make my Dad the biggest man in that town, and when folks sees him they’re a-goin’ to point to him and brag about his livin’ there. They call us tramps now, but you wait. We’ll be so respectable before I git through that it ’ll make folks dizzy.” “Good idea.... But what’s this scheme you’ve been watching, and how did you happen to watch it?” “Well, a man came to our town that looked like he owned the earth. He was all dressed up, and had scads of money. He let on he was goin’ to build a factory and manufacture things.” “Try to sell stock.” “No. He wouldn’t let anybody buy. He said it was all for him and he wanted all the profits.” “That don’t sound like a cheating scheme, Son.” “You wait. This man used to run one of them medicine-shows with a gasolene-torch and Injuns and teeth pulled free, and cheat old wimmin by sellin’ ’em medicine that wa’n’t no good. That’s how we come to suspicion him.” “How do you know that?” “We know it all right. We _know_!” “All right. Do the rest of the folks know?” “Nobody knows but us—And we dassent tell. If we did we’d git into trouble, because folks is crazy about this man. They jest foller him around tryin’ to buy stock in his factory.” “But he won’t sell?”