"Good!" said Mr. Slocum. "I like your pluck. Well, there's the boat. You can have it if you want it—for a fair price, of course."

"What do you call a fair price?" asked Bob.

"I don't mind sayin' that I bought it second-hand myself, and I've got good value out of it. I might sell it for—a hundred and twenty-five dollars."

Bob shook his head.

"That may be cheap," he answered; "but I can't afford to pay so much money."

"You can sell it at St. Louis when you're through usin' it."

"I should have to take my risk of it."

"You seem to be pretty good on a trade, for a boy. I reckon you'll sell it."

"Do you want all the money down. Mr. Slocum?"

"Well, I might wait for half of it, ef I think it's safe. What's your security?"

"We—that is, mother and I—own the ranch bordering on the other side of the creek. The wheat crop we are harvesting will probably amount to fourteen hundred bushels. I understand it is selling for two dollars a bushel or thereabouts." (This was soon after the war, when high prices prevailed for nearly all articles, including farm products.)

"I reckon you're safe, then," said Mr. Slocum. "Now we'll see if we can agree upon a price."

I will not follow Bob and Mr. Slocum in the bargaining that succeeded. The latter was the sharper of the two, but Bob felt obliged to reduce the price as much as possible, in view of the heavy mortgage upon the ranch.

"I shall never breathe easy till that mortgage is paid, mother," he said. "Mr. Wolverton is about the last man I like to owe. His attempt to collect the interest twice shows that he is unscrupulous. Besides, he has a grudge against me, and it would give him pleasure, I feel sure, to injure me."

"I am afraid you are right, Robert," answered his mother. "We must do our best, and Heaven will help us."

Finally Mr. Slocum agreed to accept seventy-five dollars cash down, or eighty dollars, half in cash, and the remainder payable after Bob's river trip was over and the crop disposed of.

"I wouldn't make such terms to any one else," said the boat-owner, "but I've been a boy myself, and I had a hard row to hoe, you bet. You seem like a smart lad, and I'm favorin' you all I can."

"Thank you, Mr. Slocum. I consider your price very fair, and you may depend upon my carrying out my agreement. Now, if you will come up to the house, I will offer you some dinner, and pay you the money."

Bob Buys the Ferry-boat.

Ichabod Slocum readily accepted the invitation, and the three went up to the house together.

When Bob told his mother of the bargain he had made, she was somewhat startled. She felt that he did not realize how great an enterprise he had embarked in.

"You forget, Robert, that you are only a boy," she said.

"No, mother, I don't forget it. But I have to take a man's part, now that father is dead."

"St. Louis is a long distance away, and you have no experience in business."

"On the other hand, mother, if we sell here, we must make a great sacrifice—twenty-five cents a bushel at least, and that on fourteen hundred bushels would amount to three hundred and fifty dollars. Now Clip and I can navigate the boat to St. Louis and return for less than quarter of that sum."

"The boy speaks sense, ma'am," said Ichabod Slocum. "He's only a kid, but he's a smart one. He's good at a bargain, too. He made me take fifty dollars less for the boat than I meant to. You can trust him better than a good many men."

"I am glad you have so favorable an opinion of Robert, Mr. Slocum," said Mrs. Burton. "I suppose I must yield to his desire."

"Then I may go, mother?"

"Yes, Robert; you have my consent."

"Then the next thing is to pay Mr. Slocum for his boat."

This matter was speedily arranged.

"I wish, Mr. Slocum," said Bob, "that you were going to St. Louis. I would be very glad to give you free passage."

"Thank you, lad, but I must turn my steps in a different direction."

"Shall I have any difficulty in managing the boat on our course down the river?"

"No, you will drift with the current. It is easy enough to go down stream. The trouble is to get back. But for that, I wouldn't have sold you the boat. At night you tie up anywhere it is convenient, and start again the next morning."

"That seems easy enough. Do you know how far it is to St. Louis, Mr. Slocum?"

"There you have me, lad. I ain't much on reckonin' distances."

"I have heard your father say, Robert, that it is about three hundred miles from here to the city. I don't like to have you go so far from me."

"I've got Clip to take care of me, mother," said Bob, humorously.

"I'll take care of Massa Bob, missis," said Clip, earnestly.

"I suppose I ought to feel satisfied with that assurance," said Mrs. Burton, smiling, "but I have never been accustomed to think of Clip as a guardian."

"I'll guardian, him, missis," promised Clip, amid general laughter.

After dinner, in company with Mr. Slocum, Bob and Clip went on board the ferry-boat, and made a thorough examination of the craft, with special reference to the use for which it was intended.

"You expect to harvest fourteen hundred bushels?" inquired Mr. Slocum.

"Yes; somewhere about that amount."

"Then you may need to make two or three extra bins."

"That will be a simple matter," said Bob.

"The roof over the boat will keep the wheat dry and in good condition. When you get to the city you can sell it all to one party, and superintend the removal yourself. You can hire all the help you need there."

Bob was more and more pleased with his purchase.

"It is just what I wanted," he said, enthusiastically. "The expenses will be almost nothing. We can take a supply of provisions with us, enough to keep us during the trip, and when the business is concluded we can return on some river steamer. We'll have a fine time, Clip."

"Golly! Massa Bob, dat's so."

"You will need to tie the boat," continued Ichabod Slocum, "or it may float off during the night, and that would upset all your plans. Have you a stout rope on the place?"

"I think not. I shall have to buy one at the store, or else cross the river."

"Then you had better attend to that at once. The boat may become dislodged at any moment."

After Mr. Slocum's departure, Bob lost no time in attending to this important matter. He procured a heavy rope, of sufficient strength, and proceeded to secure the boat to a tree on the bank.

"How soon will we start, Massa Bob?" asked Clip, who was anxious for the excursion to commence. He looked upon it somewhat in the light of an extended picnic, and it may be added that Bob also, apart from any consideration of business, anticipated considerable enjoyment from the trip down the river.

"Don't tell anybody what we are going to do with the boat, Clip," said Bob. "It will be a fortnight before we start, and I don't care to have much said about the matter beforehand."

Clip promised implicit obedience, but it was not altogether certain that he would be able to keep strictly to his word, for keeping a secret was not an easy thing for him to do.

Of course it leaked out that Bob had bought a ferry-boat. Among others Mr. Wolverton heard it, but he did not dream of the use to which Bob intended to put it. He spoke of it as a boy's folly, and instanced it as an illustration of the boy's unfitness for the charge of the ranch. It was generally supposed that Bob had bought it on speculation, hoping to make a good profit on the sale, and Bob suffered this idea to remain uncontradicted.

Meanwhile he pushed forward as rapidly as possible the harvest of the wheat, being anxious to get it to market.

When this work was nearly finished Mr. Wolverton thought it time to make a proposal to Mrs. Burton, which, if accepted, would bring him a handsome profit.