CHAPTER XXIV
_In Which the Honour of Archie Armstrong Becomes Involved, the First of September Becomes a Date of Utmost Importance, He Collides With Tom Tulk, and a Note is Made in the Book of the Future_
Sir Archibald began again to tap the desk with his finger-tips. Archiestrayed to the broad window and looked out upon the wharves andharbour.
"Is that the _Black Eagle_ at the wharf?" he asked.
"The _Black Eagle_, sure enough!" Sir Archibald laughed. "She's theWhite Bay and French Shore trader."
"Trade enough for all," Archie returned.
"George Rumm, master," said Sir Archibald.
"Still?" Archie exclaimed.
The sailing reputation of Skipper George had been in question throughthe season. He had come within six inches of losing the _Black Eagle_in a small gale of the last voyage.
"Who's clerk?" Archie asked.
"Tommy Bull, boy."
No friend of Archie!
"Sharp enough, anyhow," the boy thought.
Sir Archibald put his hands in his pockets again and began to pace thefloor; his lips were pursed, his brows drawn. Archie waited anxiouslyat the window.
"When," demanded Sir Archibald, pausing abruptly in his walk--"when doyou propose to liquidate this debt?"
"We'll sail the _Spot Cash_ into St. John's harbour, sir, on Septemberfirst, or before."
"With three hundred quintals of fish in her hold, I suppose?"
Three hundred quintals of dry fish, at four dollars, roughly, aquintal, was twelve hundred dollars.
"More than that, sir," said Archie.
"Well, boy," said Sir Archibald, briskly, "the security I have spokenof is all right, and----"
"Not worth much at auction sale," Archie interrupted, grinning.
"There's no better security in the world," said Sir Archibald, "thanyouth, integrity and capacity."
Archie waited.
"I'll back you," said Sir Archibald, shortly.
"Father," Archie declared, his eyes shining with a little mist ofdelight and affection, "I'll stand by this thing for all I'm worth!"
They shook hands upon it.
* * * * *
Sir Archibald presently wrote a check and scribbled a few lines on aslip of paper. The check was for two hundred and fifty dollars; it wasfor running expenses and emergencies that Archie needed the hard cash.The slip of paper was an order upon the warehouses and shops forcredit in the sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars.
"Now," said Sir Archibald, "it is explicitly understood between usthat on or before the first of September you are to turn over to thefirm of Armstrong & Company a sufficient quantity of properly curedfish to liquidate this account."
"Yes, sir," Archie replied, earnestly; "on or before the first day ofSeptember next."
"You perfectly understand the terms?" Sir Archibald insisted. "Youknow the nature of this obligation?"
"Yes, sir."
"Very well, son," said Sir Archibald; "your honour is involved."
Archie received the two slips of paper. It must be confessed that theyburned his fingers a little. It was a good deal to come intopossession of all at once--a good deal of money and an awe-inspiringresponsibility. Sir Archibald watched the boy's face narrowly. Heseemed to be pleased with what he found there--a little fear, a littleanxiety, a great deal of determination. The veteran business manwondered if the boy would sleep as easily as usual that night. Wouldhe wake up fresh and smiling in the morning? These were large cares tolie upon the shoulders of a lad.
"Shall I give you a--well--a receipt--or a note--or anything likethat?" Archie asked.
"You are upon your honour," said his father.
Archie scratched his head in doubt.
"Your honour," Sir Archibald repeated, smiling.
"The first of September," Archie laughed. "I shan't forget thatdate."
In the end he had good cause to remember it.
* * * * *
Before Archie left the office Sir Archibald led him to the broadwindow behind the desk. Archie was used to this. It was his father'shabit. The thing was not done in a spirit of boasting, as the boy wasvery well aware. Nor was it an attempt to impress the boy with a senseof his own importance and future wealth in the world. It was rather awell-considered and consistent effort to give him a sense of thereality and gravity of the obligations that would some day be his.From the broad window Archie looked out once more upon the variousactivities of his father's great business. There were schoonersfitting out for the fishing cruise to the Labrador; there were traderstaking in stores for the voyage to the Straits of Belle Isle, to theSouth Coast, to the French Shore; there were fore-and-afters outboundto the Grand Banks and waiting for a favourable wind; there werecoastwise vessels, loading flour and pork for the outport merchants;there were barques awaiting more favourable weather in which to loadsalt-cod for the West Indies and Spain.
All this never failed to oppress Archie a little as viewed from thebroad window of his father's office.
"Look!" said Sir Archibald, moving a hand to include the shipping andstorehouses.
Archie gazed into the rainy day.
"What do you see?" his father asked, in a way half bantering, halfgrave.
"Your ships and wharves, sir."
"Some day," said Sir Archibald, "they will be yours."
"I wish you wouldn't say that, dad--at least, not just in that way,"said Archie, turning away from the window. "It sort of frightens me."
Sir Archibald laughed and clapped him on the back. "You know what Imean," said he.
"You mean that the firm has a name," said Archie. "You mean that thename must never be disgraced. I know what you mean."
Sir Archibald nodded.
"I hope," said Archie, the suspicion of a quaver in his voice and atremble in his lower lip, "that I'll never disgrace it."
"Nor the name of the little firm that goes into business this day,"said Sir Archibald.
Archie's solemn face broke into a smile of amusement and surprise."Why, dad," said he, "it hasn't got a name."
"Armstrong & Company, Junior?"
"Armstrong, Topsail, Grimm & Company," said Archie, promptly.
"Good luck to it!" wished Sir Archibald.
"No; that's not it at all," said Archie. "Billy Topsail schemed thisthing out. Wish luck to the firm of Topsail, Armstrong, Grimm &Company."
"Build the firm," said Sir Archibald, "upon hard work and fair play."
Archie hurriedly said they would--and vanished.
"Son is growing up," thought Sir Archibald, when the boy had gone."Son is decidedly growing up. Well, well!" he sighed; "son is growingup and in far more trouble than he dreams of. It's a big investment,too. However," he thought, well pleased and cheerful again, "let himgo ahead and learn his daddy's business. And I'll back him," hedeclared, speaking aloud in his enthusiastic faith. "By Jove! I'llback him to win!"
* * * * *
At the foot of the stairway Archie collided full tilt with two men whowere engaged in intimate conversation as they passed the door. The onewas George Rumm, skipper of the _Black Eagle_--a timid, weak-mouthed,shifty-eyed man, with an obsequious drawl in his voice, a diffidentmanner, and, altogether, a loose, weak way. The other was old Tom Tulkof Twillingate. Archie leaped back with an apology to Skipper George.The boy had no word to say to Tom Tulk of Twillingate. Tom Tulk wasnotoriously a rascal whom the law was eager to catch but could neverquite satisfactorily lay hands on. It did not occur to Archie that nowise skipper would put heads mysteriously together in a public placewith old Tom Tulk of Twillingate. The boy was too full of his ownconcerns to take note of anything.
"Hello, Skipper George!" he cried, buoyantly. "I'll see you on theFrench Shore."
"Goin' north?" Skipper George drawled.
"Tradin'," said Archie.
Skipper George started. Tom Tulk scowl
ed. "Goin' aboard the _BlackEagle_?" asked Skipper George.
"Tradin' on my own hook, Skipper George," said Archie; "and I'm boundto cut your throat on the Shore."
Tom Tulk and Skipper George exchanged glances as Archie darted away.There was something of relief in Skipper George's eyes--a relieved andteasing little smile. But Tom Tulk was frankly angry.
"The little shaver!" said he, in disgust.
It was written in the book of the future that Skipper George Rumm andArchie Armstrong should fall in with each other on the north coastbefore the summer was over.