CHAPTER XVII
STICK CONFIDES HIS TROUBLES
On Wednesday of that week Crocker’s Hardware Store had announced inthe paper a twenty per cent reduction in the price of athletic goods.Also, as Jimmy had discovered that morning, one window of Crocker’s hadbeen devoted to a display of football supplies and a general athleticmiscellany. Rather an attractive window it had been, too, althoughthe dresser had evidently experienced some difficulty in findingsufficient articles with which to fill it, since he had eked out withcanoe paddles, baseball bats and a lunch hamper. Jimmy had reported thematter with some concern to Russell and that morning and the morningsfollowing had spent a large part of his time at the front door preparedto accost any person looking like a prospective buyer of athletic goodsbefore he could get as far as Crocker’s. But Russell had not seemedgreatly worried, and events proved that he had had no reason for worry.If there was no great growth in trade at the Sign of the Football,neither was there any perceptible falling off; and Jimmy, who kept asharp watch on the rival establishment, reported that so far as hecould determine Crocker’s was getting no more custom than usual.
Even with that twenty per cent discount it was doubtful if Crocker’sprices were yet lower than those of the Sign of the Football, and untilthey were Russell saw no reason for lowering his own prices. Stickspent a miserable week, fearing financial ruin and doing surreptitiousfiguring on scraps of paper. Russell was never allowed to see thosefigures, but he could guess what they meant. Business was really goodnow, and as the days of that week passed without any lessening of itStick was almost encouraged to take hope. But it took a great deal tomake Stick optimistic and he was still lugubrious when Saturday came.Russell sought to cheer him up by displaying figures that representedthe week’s sales and the net profits, but Stick only viewed themmoodily and sniffed.
“Crocker hasn’t started on us yet,” he said.
Russell who had toiled hard and whole-heartedly for the last three daysat the task of teaching football to the first team wanted very much tosee to-day’s game. Nevertheless he would not have asked Stick to takehis place in the store, since it had become understood that on Saturdayafternoons Stick was a gentleman of leisure. But it was Stick whoproposed it. He didn’t care much about football, anyway, he observed,and if Rus wanted to see the game he, Stick, didn’t mind looking afterbusiness. So Russell thanked him and hurried off at three o’clock inan effort to reach the field for the kick-off.
An hour later, the Mountain having failed to come to Mohammed, Mohammedput on his black felt hat, left his store and walked a few doorssouthward. Secretly he was incensed, outwardly he was unperturbed andeven genial. His geniality increased when he found the junior partnerinstead of the senior presiding behind the counter in the Sign of theFootball. He introduced himself to Stick, and Stick replied warily thathe was glad to meet him, not being anything of the sort.
Mr. Crocker found the junior partner quite a different proposition fromRussell. Stick was uneasy and showed it. There was none of Russell’sconfident defiance about him. Mr. Crocker leaned against the counterand talked about weather, trade, the Academy and again trade. Heimpressed Stick vastly, which was just what he intended to do. Sticklost some of his discretion and it wasn’t long before the caller wasin possession of the knowledge that Stick regretted his financialconnection with the Sign of the Football, although Stick didn’t say soin so many words. Mr. Crocker gave it as his frank and disinterestedopinion that there had been a great mistake made when the Sign of theFootball had been opened for business. He quoted figures to Stick,figures showing that it had never paid Mr. Crocker to carry athleticgoods and never could pay him. There was not, he confided, sufficienttrade in the town. Only the fact that those who came to purchaseathletic goods returned for hardware or related articles sold by Mr.Crocker induced him to continue in the sporting goods business. Thatsounded reasonable and Stick nodded.
Mr. Crocker suggested that being a junior partner wasn’t verysatisfactory, anyhow, since you didn’t have an equal voice in theconduct of business, and again Stick nodded. Mr. Crocker was fastproving himself a man of discernment and wisdom. It is an odd factthat your extremely suspicious person--and that Stick Patterson surelywas--can be readily fooled if the right intelligence undertakes thejob. Look around and see if I’m not right. Stick reversed his opinionof Mr. Crocker in something under thirty minutes. He no longer thoughthim base and designing. On the contrary he saw now that Russell’spicture of the hardware merchant had been quite out of drawing andthat Mr. Crocker was a kind-meaning, well-intentioned gentleman whoseseeming interference in their affairs was actuated by honest andsympathetic motives. In short, Mr. Crocker saw from his long experiencethe fate awaiting the unfortunate venture of the Sign of the Footballand, having the Golden Rule ever in mind, was doing what he could toavert it. Having accepted that estimate of the caller and his errand,Stick became confidential.
Ten minutes later Mr. Crocker, patting his soft hat more firmly on hishead, remarked: “Well, if your partner can’t be made to see the wisething there’s nothing I can say or do, Mr. Patterson.” He smiled kindlyand sorrowfully as he moved toward the door.
“I suppose not,” assented Stick gloomily. “Gee, if I could get out ofit--”
“Yes, you might do that,” said Mr. Crocker carelessly.
“Eh?” exclaimed Stick. “How could I?”
Mr. Crocker turned a slightly surprised countenance over his shoulder.“Why, sell out, of course,” he said.
“Oh!” replied Stick disappointedly. “I’m willing enough but Russellhasn’t got the money. He says he may have it later, but--”
“I don’t believe,” said Mr. Crocker, pausing and looking thoughtfullythrough the door, “that your partner would be willing to give you morethan you put in for your share of the business.”
“I wouldn’t expect him to,” said Stick. “I’d be glad to get my moneyback!”
“You ought to do a little better than that,” asserted the man. “Infact, I wouldn’t be surprised if you could sell at quite a neat littleprofit, Mr. Patterson.”
“I don’t believe so, sir. By the time Rus gets ready to buy me outthere won’t be any business left, I guess.”
“I agree with you, but why wait so long? Why not sell now?”
“He won’t buy now,” answered Stick, a trifle surprised at Mr. Crocker’sdensity.
Mr. Crocker waved a hand carelessly. “Some one else might,” he said.Stick stared.
“You mean that--that you--”
“Dear me, no,” protested the other. “I wouldn’t touch it for half whatyou put in, Mr. Patterson. You see, I know the business. But there maybe others who don’t.”
“I guess there wouldn’t be any one who’d care to buy,” said Stick.Mr. Crocker, he thought, was a bit visionary for a man seemingly sohard-headed.
“Possibly not, possibly not,” Mr. Crocker returned. “Still, if I shouldhear of any one looking for a small investment of the sort I’ll takethe liberty of letting you know. If it isn’t too much of a secret, Mr.Patterson, what does your interest here amount to?”
Stick hesitated. The sum was, of course, ridiculously trifling fromthe point of view of a person of Mr. Crocker’s wealth. But Stickfinally gave the figures, nevertheless. Mr. Crocker’s brows raisedincredulously.
“But your partner must have put in very much more then!”
“Only about seventy-five more,” denied Stick.
“You mean to tell me you’ve been doing business here on a capitalof something under four hundred dollars?” exclaimed Mr. Crocker.“Astounding! Ridiculous!”
“It was all we had,” replied Stick defensively.
“H’m. Well, you won’t have so much to lose, anyway,” said the othercheerfully. “That’s fortunate, eh?”
“A hundred and twenty-five’s a lot more than I want to lose,” answeredStick earnestly. “If you hear of any one who will pay that much, sir, Iwish you’d let me know.”
“I will, certainly. In
fact, Mr. Patterson, I’ll make inquiries.Perhaps, though, we’d better keep this to ourselves for the present.For instance, I wouldn’t mention it to your partner just yet. Timeenough when we have a buyer, eh? For that matter, maybe it’ll be justas well if Mr. Emerson doesn’t learn of my call. Between you and me,Mr. Patterson, he seems to have taken a--er--well, a dislike to me.”Mr. Crocker smiled patiently and forgivingly. “He might, you see,object to losing your interest, which, doubtless, he hopes to acquirehimself when he is quite ready. Perhaps he figures that by spring, say,the business will be so run down that your interest can be purchasedfor less than you’d be willing to let it go for now.” Mr. Crocker shookhis head sadly, in the manner of one who, during a blameless life,has watched the devious ways of less upright persons. “Well, I’ll begoing,” he continued. “Very glad to have met you, Mr. Patterson, andto have had this talk. It is always a pleasure to meet a reasonable andsensible person. Good afternoon.”
After the caller had gone Stick had one or two qualms of doubt. Hadhe done right in letting Mr. Crocker so far into the secrets of thebusiness? Would it be fair to sell out his interest to any one save hispartner? Still, if Rus couldn’t buy, and another could--
Stick had plenty of food for thought during the rest of the day.
Russell watched the Mount Millard game from a comfortable seat inthe grandstand and heroically joined his voice to the voices of somethree hundred and seventy-five others during four hectic periods.For neighbors he had Stanley Hassell and Bob Coolidge, those younggentlemen having spied Russell making an eleventh-hour search for aseat, hailed him and in some mysterious manner wedged him in betweenthem. No matter how much difficulty Bob Coolidge might experience inordinary conversation, when it came to cheering he was all there. Therewas no hesitation, no stuttering, and his voice was like unto the voiceof the Bull of Bashan. But had every Altonian there that afternoonpossessed Bob’s vocal powers it is doubtful if the outcome of the gamewould have been much different.
Russell saw the enemy hold the home team scoreless throughout thefirst quarter, when, with the wind in her favor and all the luck of thegame with her, the Gray-and-Gold struggled valiantly and desperatelyto cross the enemy’s goal-line and, twice reaching the fifteen yards,was halted and turned back. It was in that period that Alton played herbest game, although the fact wasn’t known then. In the second quarter,with the wind behind her, Mount Millard punted and kept on puntinguntil, near the end, her chance came. Then Crocker, who seemed to havedefinitely won the left end position from Rhame, shooting around theopposite end of the Alton line with the ball, was met head-on by awatchful enemy back and in the shock of that collision let go of thepigskin. When the whistle again piped the pigskin lay twelve yardsnearer the Alton goal and a Mount Millard lineman sprawled protectinglyabove it. That was the enemy’s opportunity, for the line-up was onAlton’s thirty-two yards and the brisk wind was blowing straight towardthe Alton goal-posts. Mount Millard tried two rushes that added fouryards more to her possession and then, amidst a deep silence, senther left halfback to kicking position for the third consecutive time.This time, as friend and foe alike knew, there was no pretense aboutit. A minute later the ball had sailed lazily across the bar and MountMillard had scored.
But three points seemed as yet nothing to worry about. StanleyHassell predicted that after Johnny had got through reading the riotact in there--nodding backward toward the gymnasium--the home teamwould come back and bite large and gory holes in Mount Millard. BobCoolidge agreed thoroughly if stutteringly and only Russell remainedpessimistic. Russell had noted the first team’s let-up in that secondperiod, had seen the signs before and interpreted them correctly assubsequent events proved. Alton never again during the remainingtwenty-four minutes of actual playing time showed herself dangerous.The third quarter was all Mount Millard, even if she didn’t score. ForAlton, who had taken a leaf from her opponent’s book and was kickingon second down, Jimmy Austen performed creditably enough, but what hemanaged to gain on his punts the enemy stole away by running back theball for ten, fifteen, occasionally twenty yards. The Alton ends wereheavy-footed and slow, tackled the wrong man and, when they had pickedthe right one, generally missed him. Rhame went in for Crocker and Lakefor McLeod, but little improvement resulted. In the line Alton at timesseemed half asleep. The men charged high and slow, and on defense itwas only the secondary army that saved the day a dozen times. MountMillard paved the way for a touchdown in the final minutes of the thirdquarter and secured it soon after the last period had begun. Then ashort forward-pass took the ball to the Gray-and-Gold’s twenty-sevenyards, a long-legged halfback skirted Lake for six and Mount Millardformed for a try-at-goal. None expected it and it didn’t materialize,but again Mount Millard edged closer, this time by a full-back sprint.The enemy made it first down on Alton’s sixteen, and from there,although Coach Cade threw in almost a new line from end to end, tookthe ball over in four plays, the last of which went for three yardsthrough an utterly demoralized defense.
Mount Millard kicked the goal and made the score 10 to 0, and then setto work to further humiliate the opponent. And she would have done so,there is no doubt, if the last trump hadn’t brought the game to an endjust when it did. For Mount Millard was again well inside Alton’s lastdefenses and coming hard.
Bob Coolidge remarked sadly as they made their way down the aisle that,anyway, ten to nothing wasn’t as bad as nineteen to nothing, which hadbeen the score of last year’s win for the visitor. But neither he norhis hearers appeared to derive much comfort from the thought!