Teddy and Carrots: Two Merchants of Newpaper Row Part 14

"Well, I don't see as it's any different from what it was before. We knew he was bound to drive me away, an' it wasn't likely he'd stop after what little he's done. Now, Carrots, there's jest this much about it: you wouldn't be in any fuss with him if it wasn't for me, an' you can square things up this very minute by sayin' you've shook me. Why not do it?"

"'Cause I kind er like you, Teddy, an' then, ag'in, I wouldn't give Skip the satisfaction of knowin' he'd made me do what he wanted."

"Better that than have to go out of the business."

"I sha'n't do anything of the kind. I reckon you an' I can fix things up somehow, an' I'll tell you what I'd like, Teddy. It seems as if you knew how to manage better'n I, an' why wouldn't it be a good idea to go inter pardners.h.i.+p? I can earn as much money in pleasant weather blackin' boots as you will by sellin' papers, an' I'll 'gree not to spend a cent more'n you. You shall take care of the cash, an' say what we'll have for grub, an' all that sort of thing."

"You want us to go inter business, eh?"

"That's jest it. 'Teddy an' Carrots.' My name don't sound very well.

Might call it Joseph; but then n.o.body'd know who you meant."

"It ought ter be 'Thurston an' Williams,' of course. Pardners don't use their first names."

"Now you've struck it?" Carrots cried in delight. "Is it a whack?"

"It is," Teddy replied gravely, and thus was a very weighty matter settled: a business connection formed which might possibly not receive any great amount of attention from the newspaper reporters, but a solid one in the opinion of the members composing the firm.

"Then here's the money we've got on hand," and Carrots emptied his pockets immediately. "You keep the whole an' we can tell every night jest how we stand."

"But you mustn't put in all your money, Carrots. You see, I haven't got as much, an' that wouldn't be fair."

Then Teddy counted his wealth, which consisted, including the profits made on the newspapers, of forty-three cents.

"That's the size of it. You put in jest as much, an' we'll start fair,"

said Teddy.

Carrots insisted that it would be better for him to contribute the entire amount of his capital; but Teddy refused to listen to anything of the kind, and, finally, the question was settled by the cas.h.i.+er's putting into one particular pocket, which was to be reserved for the use of the firm, the sum of eighty-six cents.

"Now, then, when are you goin' to work?" Teddy asked, with a business-like air. "It won't do for us to spend this money for grub, 'cause we shall want somethin' to eat to-morrow. What do you say to tryin' it 'round South Ferry?"

"If we do that, Skip will be sure he has driven us out. I think we'd better go right up to City Hall, an' start in straight; but the first thing is, where'll we live?"

"What's the matter with this place?"

"I ain't so certain but Teenie'll give the snap away. If Skip gets hold of him he can make him tell 'most anything."

"No need of movin' till we find out that Skip really knows where we are.

I ain't so sure but it would be a good idea to stay right here, anyhow, an' let him do whatever he can."

"But you see, he'd tell the folks in the store, an' they'd drive us out."

"That might be," Teddy replied, thoughtfully. "But we've got plenty of time to think it over. Now what we want is to earn a news-stand the very first thing. Then we'll have to get a chair outside, an' you could tend shop while I was selling papers anywhere trade happened to be the best."

"Won't that be fine!" Carrots cried in a tone of enthusiasm. "How the fellers' eyes would stick out if we were runnin' a reg'lar shop!" But then he added, reflectively, "I don't see how that's goin' to be done.

It's been a pretty tight squeeze for me to get enough to buy grub with, to say nothin' of swellin'; an', if that wouldn't be swellin', I don't know what to call it!"

"'Tend right to your work, Carrots, an' don't spend money on cigarettes, or such things as that, an' it won't take long to get what we need. I don't reckon one of them stands costs any more'n ten dollars."

"Ten dollars!" Carrots exclaimed. "Why don't you buy the City Hall an'

start in in great shape? Ten dollars! Why, we couldn't earn that much in a month!"

"Well, s'posin' we couldn't? S'posin' it took two months? Wouldn't that be better'n the way you're workin' now?"

"Yes, I reckon it would; but I don't b'lieve we'd ever get that much together."

"You do as I want you to, an' we'll see what'll happen. Now, look at it jest this way, Carrots: if you made twenty-three cents for me yesterday afternoon sellin' papers, s'posin' you put in the whole day at it, couldn't you have made more'n fifty cents?"

"I could do better'n that blackin' boots, even when business wasn't good."

"Well, there you are! If you earn fifty cents, an' enough to buy grub, an' I do the same, it wouldn't take us but ten days to have the money we wanted."

Carrots rubbed his nose reflectively, thereby adding to the smudge of blacking which now extended nearly from ear to ear; and, noticing it, Teddy asked, earnestly:

"Say, why don't you wash your face?"

"What would be the good of that?"

"You'd look more decent, anyhow. I b'lieve folks'd rather buy things of a feller who's clean, than of one lookin' like an Injun."

"But when a man has his boots s.h.i.+ned, he doesn't care whether my face is white or red, so long's he gets a polish."

"You ought ter care, Carrots. Isn't there any water 'round here?"

"Yes; there's a hydrant in the other corner of the yard."

"Take this piece of soap an' my towel, an' go over there. Try it once, an' see how much better you'll feel."

As he spoke, Teddy unrolled his newspaper valise, took from it the articles mentioned, and handed them to his friend, who looked at the collection in a suspicious sort of manner, as if questioning whether it would be exactly safe for him to make the experiment suggested.

"I'll do it! By jinks! I'll do it jest once for luck!" he said; and five minutes later the operation had been completed.

Carrots, with every freckle showing on his face, his skin glowing from the unwonted use of soap and water, and a broad streak of dirt left just in front of his ears and extending under his chin, returned to the dwelling almost shamefaced.

"There! if you feel as much better as you look, you must be jest humpin'

yourself," Teddy said, admiringly. "Only you didn't wash far enough back."

"What's the matter now?" Carrots asked in surprise.

"It seems to me as if you'd shoved the dirt back instead of was.h.i.+n' it off."

"Well, see here, Teddy: I did this thing to please you, didn't I?"

"Yes."

"Well, I've sworn off now. I don't b'lieve in puttin' on frills anyhow, an' all this talk 'bout water makin' you feel good is all in your eye.

If we've got to earn ten dollars in ten days, I reckon it'll take all my time s.h.i.+nin', 'stead of tryin' to look so mighty fine that a man'd think I wouldn't dare to pull the stopper out er a blackin'-bottle for fear of s.m.u.ttin' my fingers. I s'pose if I lived on a farm, same's you did, I'd wash when I saw the others, an' then it wouldn't come so unhandy. That's where I wish I was now--in the country," he added, as he clasped his hands around one knee and rocked himself to and fro on the impromptu bed.

"You wouldn't wish that very long if you had one taste of it."