Part 30 (1/2)
”Sure,” he nodded ”I get that” Then he added very deliberately
”That's why you send your boys out scouting hed ie
”That's business, boy I buy your stuff--all you can hand me But if I can jump into your market, why--it's up to me”
”It certainly is up to you” The man lit his pipe and pressed down the tobacco with one of his powerful fingers ”It's up to you more than you know I once sent back one of your boys I shan't worry to send back any more Best save their skins whole, Harris You'll never jump my market till you can find a feller who can hit a trail such as you never dreaot to locate first”
The trader leant back in his chair and linked his fat fingers across his wide stoarded the visitor from the North The smile was still in them, but there was a keen speculation in them, too
”You can't blame me, boy,” he said, with perfect a, and your market's as sacred as a woman's virtue But you don't hand it me, or maybe you can't Well, it's up tocrooked in that
If you're reckoning to squeeze my market you can't kick if I try to open it wide You see, Brand, this stuff _grows_ I guess it grows in plenty, because you adh to guess he only trades sufficient for his needs See? Well, I've the saet on to that source If you know it, handfor If you don't, then you can't stopto locate it for ht as that there'd be no kick coot a kick is et all that,” the visitor said, without relaxing his attention
”There's no kick on theI never said there was I said save your boys' skins whole That's all If you fancy juuess I don't need to tell you what to expect You sit around here and order other folks to the job It's they who're going to suffer Not you”
”I pay them They take it on with their darn eyes open,” snapped the trader, his aathered a half sreat cloud of s I haven't seen necessary to tell you before,” he said ”And it's because I' And, further, I' out sharp business for real business There's a big source of this stuff Oh, yes I know that I've been chasing it for fourteen years, and--I haven't found it When I do--if I do, I'll hand you all you need, and save that weep you threatened Meanwhile you're sinking dollars in a play thatto snuff out uselessly the lights of soree 'ud be better off the earth Here's where the horse sense comes in I know all about this stuff, all there is to know I know the folks, all of them, who can supply me They wouldn't trade with your folks They wouldn't trade with a soul but me This is simple fact, and no sort of bluff But the whole point is that I--I wish an outfit ready to face anything the North can hand me, with the confidence of the folks who know the source, have been chasing for it fourteen years and failed, while you, with a bunch of toughs who couldn't live fiveto do so that for fourteen years has beaten me That's the horse sense I want to hand you, and I' it you so you don't pitchfork anyon them They won't find it I'll see to that, and what I don't see to the Northern trail will If you don't see the sense of this, it's up to you, and anyway, as I' to pull out early, I'll take a draft on the bank for those dollars I'll be along down again this time next year”
He rose from his chair preparatory to departure, and picked up the war aside
For a ht Then, quite suddenly, he stirred, and reached the check book lying on the desk He wrote rapidly, and finally tore the draft from its counterfoil and blotted it Then he looked up, and his s amiability was uppermost once more
”Thanks, Brand,” he said ”I'ht It's hoss sense anyway You aren't given to talk most tilad you told er to do in the future don't concern anyone but me All I can say is I built this enterprise up on a definite hard rule I never co concern, particularly with a free-trading outfit I trade with 'em, but I'm out to beat 'ened a receipt Then he thrust his cap over his head and his steady eyes s up at hiht, Harris,” he said easily ”The feller who don't knoins a pot now and again But it's the feller who knoins in the long run You back the gahta”
Alroy Leclerc beast the many to be found in Seal Bay His ”hotel” had sheltered the trader, who called himself Brand, for three days A fact sufficiently unusual to stir the saloon-keeper to a high pitch of cordiality For all his s of the town, Alroy, with sound instinct, infinitely preferred the custom of the stable men of the Northern world Brand wasMuch too early for Alroy He felt lonely in the eh theof the office, scarcely lit the reht The saloon-keeper was reat wood stove they were standing over
”Guess it looks like bein' our last real cold snap,” Alroy said, by way oftalk with ainto May in a week 'Tain't as easy with your folks We git the ind of this darn old bay, with all that h, ”is ht up to July”
Thea bundle of notes for the settlelanced up with a s amusement in his eyes
”Guess that's as et fancy patterns where I come from”
He passed the account and a number of bills to the other, and returned his roll to his pocket
”And wher' may that be?” enquired the saloon-keeper, with as much indifference as his curiosity would permit
”Just north,” returned the other ”Guess you'll find that right
Twenty-five fifty I'll take a receipt”