"Well, son, let's get down to business. I see you're wise all right to the value of that pit. How much work do you want me to do and how much money will you want me to give you, and who's going to keep account of the sand we get and when do we settle for it?" "You said you had a steam shovel, Mr. Brady," said Bob. "Is it busy now? We want to get this bottom land ready for corn this year." "Not doing anything at the present time; can start your work next week for the shovel's on the railroad siding at Indiana now," he replied quickly. "What do you charge a day for use of shovel with a man to operate it?" asked Bob. "Hold on there, son; you'll get to be as smart as I am if you keep on at that rate. I don't rent the shovel by the day, but I'll tell you what: I'll do your work on contract." "All right," said Bob. "How much do you want for digging the ditch?" "$700," said Mr. Brady, consulting a memorandum. "And how much for building the dam?" "$200 without a concrete spillway and sluice gate and $350 more with them." "And how much for the road up the west slope?" "Well, that won't cost you much, son; that's an easier job than it looks. I'll charge you only $100 for doing that. That would make $1350 total." "Yes," replied Bob, setting down the amount in his own memorandum book. "How much sand will you need, Mr. Brady?" The contractor took a memorandum book from his pocket and consulted it for a moment. "About ten to fifteen thousand yards of sand and gravel together on my first contract, but I expect to have a contract for building roads pretty soon that will require more than double that." At the mention of these figures, Bob exchanged glances with his uncle, who had with difficulty kept to his agreement to let Bob make the bargain, and he fairly gasped when he began to realize the earning capacity of the old sand pit. "I think you're charging me too much money, son, for the sand and gravel. You ought to knock off five or ten cents per yard and give me exclusive right to the pit." "No," said Bob, "we're not willing to do that, but we will make this bargain with you, Mr. Brady: if you will do our work for us right away, we'll agree not to charge you more than fifty cents a cubic yard for as much sand and gravel as you want." Seeing there was no other way out of the matter, the contractor finally consented to this arrangement. "I'm not much on verbal contracts," he said, "for I find that people who do not set down in black and white what they agree to do, often forget and then there's trouble, so if you don't mind, Mr. Williams, we'll step into the house and put our agreement in writing." "How shall we arrange to keep account of the amount of materials I get?" asked Mr. Brady, as they started for the house. "How do you usually do?" asked Bob.