“That,” says Jason, “might put another light onto it.” “I’m willing to pay you for your services. Now what I want you to do is to nose around and see if you can find where Bugg owes any money. Then buy up the debts as cheaply as you can. I’ll furnish the money.” “What do you want of sich debts? Silas hain’t much on payin’ debts. ’Tain’t as though he made a habit of payin’ up. Mostly he forgits ’em.” “I’ll see that he remembers. As soon as we own those debts, we’ll throw him into bankruptcy and bid in the property for a trifle.” “Um!... Like I says a minute back, I hain’t for proddin’ in other folks’s business.” “When I pay you it becomes your business, doesn’t it?” “To be sure. To be sure. Makes all the difference in the world. I was just sayin’ the other day that money always makes a difference. Yes, sir. If you got money you’re different than what you be if you hain’t. If you want money you’re different than what you be if you don’t want it. On the other hand, if there wasn’t no money not much of anythin’ would make any difference, eh? I’m a sensible man, Mr. Wiggamore, and I calc’late not to let no day end without I’ve added some to what I got in the savin’s-bank. My view of money is this: It’s somethin’ to git all of that you kin, and to let go of as little of as you got to. If you got a dollar, why, you got a dollar; if you up and spend it, what you got then? Nothin’ but vain regrets, says I.” “Right,” says Mr. Wiggamore. “I see you are a wise man, and I like to do business with wise men. I’m sure I shall find much work for you, for I need men who think the way you do.” “Much obleeged,” says Jason, purring like a tabby-cat laying in a sunbeam. You could ’most see him hump up his back to be scratched. “The only thing I don’t take to about this here is that Mark Tidd is in it. But I calc’late you and me is equal to one fat boy. Now maybe I got some suggestions like. You kin bet that there Tidd boy will make money out of that mill if he’s let be. He’s got the knack of it. If he’s let be, mark you! Was you willin’ to see him let be, or would it be worth a man’s while to sort of kind of mix in once in a while?” “For instance?” “Things happens in mills,” says Jason, confidential-like. “Somethin’ might get wedged into the water-wheel. There’s ways of messin’ up machinery so’s it won’t run.” “I see you’re going to be a valuable man for me.” “Um!... Wa-al, suppose we was to bind the bargain, then.” “Eh? Bind the bargain?” “I was wonderin’ how I was goin’ to be able to put any money in that savin’s-account of mine to-morrer.” “Oh! And how much will bind the bargain?” “Suppose we was to say five dollars.” Wiggamore grunted and handed over a bill. I felt Mark pinch me, and he whispered: “Workin’ cheap, hain’t he? I hain’t much afraid of a f-f-feller that’ll sell his d-decency for f-five dollars. Now if he’d ’a’ stuck Wiggamore for a hunderd I’d been some worried. About all Jason’s goin’ to be is a nuisance—that and _sorry_.”