By a subterfuge in which a sympathetic doctor was the main factor, he had himself permanently excused from chapel. Then he said to Scarborough: "You get up too late, old man. My grandfather used to say that only a drone lies abed after two in the morning, wasting the best part of the day. You ought to turn in, say, at half-past nine and rise in time to get your hardest work out of the way before the college day begins." "That sounds reasonable," replied Scarborough, after a moment's consideration. "I'll try it." And so it came to pass that Pierson went to bed at the sound of Scarborough's two-o'clock rising gong and pieced out his sleep with an occasional nap in recitations and lectures and for an hour or two late in the afternoon. He was able once more to play poker as late as he liked, and often had time for reading before the gong sounded. And Scarborough was equally delighted with the new plan. "I gain at least one hour a day, perhaps two," he said. "Your grandfather was a wise man." Toward spring, Mills, western manager of the publishing house for which Scarborough had sold Peaks of Progress through Michigan, came to Battle Field to see him. "You were far and away the best man we had out last year," said he. "You're a born book agent." "Thank you," said Scarborough, sincerely. He appreciated that a man can pay no higher compliment than to say that another is master of his own trade. "We got about fifty orders from people who thought it over after you'd tried to land them and failed--that shows the impression you made. And you sold as many books as our best agent in our best field." "I'll never go as agent again," said Scarborough. "The experience was invaluable--but sufficient." "We don't want you to go as agent. Our proposition is for much easier and more dignified work." At the word dignified, Scarborough could not restrain a smile. "I've practically made my plans for the summer," he said. "I think we've got something worth your while, Mr. Scarborough. Our idea is for you to select about a hundred of the young fellows who're working their way through here, and train them in your methods of approaching people. Then you'll take them to Wisconsin and Minnesota and send them out, each man to a district you select for him. In that way you'll help a hundred young men to earn a year at college and you'll make a good sum for yourself--two or three times what you made last summer." Scarborough had intended to get admitted to the bar in June, to spend the summer at an apprenticeship in a law office and to set up for himself in the fall. But this plan was most attractive--it would give him a new kind of experience and would put him in funds for the wait for clients. The next day he signed an advantageous contract--his expenses for the summer and a guaranty of not less than three thousand dollars clear.