The man, whose name turned out to be Mr. Rushmore, took us into his office and told us to sit down, and pressed a button. In come a girl and he told her to bring the Silas Bugg contract. She came back in a minute and put it on his desk. Mr. Rushmore read it through and sort of frowned. Then he figured a little. “According to this,” he says, “we owe you three hundred and sixteen dollars.” “With the discount off?” says Mark. “Yes; I figured that.” “More ’n I hoped,” says Mark. “That’ll t-take care of the pay-roll for quite a spell.” “This last shipment completed your contract,” says Mr. Rushmore. “Do you want to make a new contract with me on the same terms?” “I m-may,” says Mark, “but not to-day.” “Why not to-day?” “Because,” says Mark, “Silas Doolittle never knew what it cost him to manufacture, and he was always l-losin’ money. It don’t take much work to guess he was sellin’ for too little. We’re workin’ out the costs of everything, to get it exact, and until we know we hain’t makin’ a contract.” “By Jove!” says the man. “Whose idea was that?” “Mine,” says Mark. “Who is running that mill?” “Us four boys.” “No man to boss you?” “Only man around the p-premises is Silas Doolittle.” “And you stepped in to untangle things, eh? Well, young man, I shouldn’t be surprised if you did it. Where did you get your ideas of business?” “Hain’t got many, but we got to have somethin’ to go by. Common sense tells a f-f-feller he can’t make money sellin’ for less’n cost.” “That’s a great truth,” says Mr. Rushmore. “How about our m-m-money?” says Mark. “I’ll have a check for you at once. When you get around to it, let me know. We need quite a lot of spindles and will need them all this year.” “Glad to supply ’em,” says Mark, “but not till we got our costs.” “I’ll take a chance if you will,” says Mr. Rushmore, and I saw a twinkle come into his eye again. “I’ll raise the figures in this contract five per cent. That ought to make you come out right.” Mark studied a minute. “No,” says he; “that wouldn’t be business for either of us. We m-m-might not be gettin’ enough, or you m-might be p-payin’ too much. The only way is to be f-f-fair to both parties. We want you satisfied as well as us.” “Son,” says Mr. Rushmore, “you’ll get along. That’s a business principle that will bring success. The satisfied customer is the valuable customer. Stick to it.” “I’m goin’ to,” says Mark. Mr. Rushmore had a check made out and gave it to us. “What are you going to do the rest of the day?” says he. “We’re goin’ to go around some of these turnin’-mills in Bostwick and see how they work, and t-t-talk to some of the bosses and git what information we can. I got a n-notion Silas’s way of doin’ things might be improved some.” “Maybe you’re right,” says Mr. Rushmore. “We do quite a bit of our own turning. Glad to have you go through the plant.” “Make any dowels?” says Mark, and I wondered what he asked that for. “About a hundred millions a year.”