"Let me have a few words with Ernie."
"Yes, Dick, you'd better shut up," added Ernie eagerly. "I'll just
talk it over with the Colonel. If we find we can't do it, why, we'll
tell him so, that's all. I tell you ten thousand's a lot of money. We
could open the nicest kind of a cigar stand with that, and live like
honest, respectable men ever afterward."
Dick sank back against the table and studied his brother's livid face
with the darkest despair in his eyes. His shoulders drooped suddenly.
"Honest and respectable?" he said, passing his hand over his eyes.
"You mean, _you_ could be all of that, but where would I come in?
Would you let me stand behind the showcase in your fine store? Would I
ever get so much as a pipeful of tobacco out of it? No! Don't try to
argue with me, Ernie; my mind's made up. I came here to-night just to
save you from a game like this. I knowed you'd be for it strong, and
I'd just have to do it if I wasn't here in the beginning to cork it.
Look here, Grand, I don't know just what your plan is, but I'll tell
you this: I'll blow on you as sure as I'm alive if you try to carry it
out.
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