Do and Dare — a Brave Boy's Fight for Fortune, Jr. Horatio Alger [free ebook reader .txt] 📗

“Bravo, Herbert! That would make your half worth twenty-five hundred.”

“Yes,” said the boy complacently; “if we could sell at that figure, I could pay you back and have two thousand dollars of my own. Think of that, Mr. Melville,” continued Herbert, his eyes glowing with pride and pleasure. “Shouldn't I be a rich boy?”

“You may do even better, Herbert. Don't be in a hurry to sell. That is my advice. If the present favorable indications continue, you may realize a considerably larger sum.”

“So Jack says. He says he is bound to hold on, and hopes I will.”

“You are in luck, Herbert.”

“Yes, Mr. Melville, and I don't forget that it is to you I am indebted for this good fortune,” said the boy, earnestly. “If you hadn't bought the property for me, I could not. I don't know but you ought to get some share ef the profits.”

George Melville shook his head.

“My dear boy,” he said, “I have more than my share of money already. Sometimes I feel ashamed when I compare my lot with others, and consider that for the money I have, I have done no work. The least I can do is to consider myself the Lord's trustee, and do good to others, when it falls in my way.”

“I wish all rich men thought as you do, Mr. Melville; the world would be happier,” said Herbert.

“True, Herbert. I hope and believe there is a considerable number who, like myself, feel under obligations to do good.”

“I shall be very glad, on mother's account, if I can go home with money enough to make her independent of work. By the way, Mr. Melville, I found a letter from mother in the Deer Creek post office. Shall I read it to you?”

“If there is nothing private in it, Herbert.”

“There is nothing private from you, Mr. Melville.”

It may be explained that Deer Creek had already obtained such prominence that the post-office department had established an office there, and learning this, Herbert had requested his mother to address him at that place.

He drew the letter from his pocket and read it aloud.

We quote the essential portions.

“'I am very glad to hear that you have made the long journey in safety, and are now in health.'”

Herbert had not mentioned in his home letter the stage-coach adventure, for he knew that it would disturb his mother to think that he had been exposed to such a risk.

“It will do no good, you know,” he said to Mr. Melville, and his friend had agreed with him.

“'It is very satisfactory to me,' continued Herbert, reading from the letter, 'that you are under the charge of Mr. Melville, who seems to me an excellent, conscientious young man, from whom you can learn only good.'”

“Your mother thinks very kindly of me,” said Melville, evidently pleased.

“She is right, too, Mr. Melville,” said Herbert, with emphasis.

“'It will no doubt be improving to you, my dear Herbert, to travel under such pleasant auspices, for a boy can learn from observation as well as from books. I miss you very much, but since the separation is for your advantage, I can submit to it cheerfully.

“'You ask me about my relations with Mr. Graham. I am still in the post office, and thus far nearly the whole work devolves upon me. Except in one respect, I am well treated. Mr. G-. is, as you know, very penurious, and grudges every cent that he has to pay out. When he paid me last Saturday night the small sum for which I agreed to assist him, he had much to say about his large expenses, fuel, lights, etc., and asked me if I wouldn't agree to work for two dollars a week, instead of three. I confess, I was almost struck dumb by such an exhibition of meanness, and told him that it would be quite impossible. Since then he has spent some of the time himself in the office, and asked me various questions about the proper way of preparing the mail, etc., and I think it is his intention, if possible, to get along without me. I don't know, if he absolutely insists upon it, but it would be better to accept the reduction than to give up altogether. Two dollars a week will count in my small household.'

“Did you ever hear of such meanness, Mr. Melville?” demanded Herbert, indignantly. “Here is Mr. Graham making, I am sure, two thousand dollars a year clear profit, and yet anxious to reduce mother from three to two dollars a week.”

“It is certainly a very small business, Herbert. I think some men become meaner by indulgence of their defect.”

“I shall write mother to give up the place sooner than submit to such a reduction. Three dollars a week is small enough in all conscience.”

“I approve the advice, Herbert. If Mr. Graham were really cramped for money, and doing a poor business, it would be different. As it is, it seems to me he has no excuse for his extreme penuriousness.”

“How pleasant it would be to pay a flying visit to Wayneboro,” said Herbert, thoughtfully. “One never appreciates home until he has left it.”

“That pleasure must be left for the future. It will keep.”

“Very true, and when I do go home I want to go well fixed.”

Herbert had already caught the popular Western phrase for a man well to do.

“We must depend on the Blazing Star Mine for that,” said Melville, smiling. My young readers may like to know that, while Herbert was prospering financially, he did not neglect the cultivation of his mind. Among the books left by Mr. Falkland were a number of standard histories, some elementary books in French, including a dictionary, a treatise on natural philosophy, and a German grammar and reader.

“Do you know anything of French or German, Mr. Melville?” inquired our hero, when they made their first examination of the library.

“Yes, Herbert, I am a tolerable scholar in each.”

“I wish I were.”

“Would you like to study them?”

“Yes, very much.”

“Then I will make you a proposal. You are likely to have considerable time at your disposal. If you will study either, or both, I will be your teacher.”

“I should like nothing better,” said Herbert, eagerly.

“Moreover, if you wish to study philosophy, I will aid you, though we are not in a position to illustrate the subject by experiments.”

Herbert was a sensible boy. Moreover, he was fond of study, and he saw at once how advantageous this proposal was. He secured a private tutor for