Cast Upon the Breakers by Jr. Horatio Alger (i love reading books TXT) ๐
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- Author: Jr. Horatio Alger
Read book online ยซCast Upon the Breakers by Jr. Horatio Alger (i love reading books TXT) ๐ยป. Author - Jr. Horatio Alger
Louis Wheeler changed color. Now he remembered Rodney, and he was satisfied that he owed to him the coolness with which the Western man had treated him.
โI remember you had,โ he said spitefully, โbut I donโt know how you came by it.โ
โIt isnโt necessary that you should know. I remember I had considerable difficulty in getting it out of your hands.โ
โMr. Pettigrew,โ said Wheeler angrily, โI feel interested in you, and I want to warn you against the boy who is with you. He is a dangerous companion.โ
โI dare say you are right,โ said Pettigrew in a quizzical tone. โI shall look after him sharply, and I thank you for your kind and considerate warning. I donโt care to take up any more of your valuable time. Rodney, let us be going.โ
โIt must have been the kid that exposed me,โ muttered Wheeler, as he watched the two go down the street. โI will get even with him some time. That man would have been good for a thousand dollars to me if I had not been interfered with.โ
โYou have been warned against me, Mr. Pettigrew,โ said Rodney, laughing. โMr. Wheeler has really been very unkind in interfering with my plans.โ
โI shanโt borrow any trouble, or lie awake nights thinking about it, Rodney. I donโt care to see or think of that rascal again.โ
The week passed, and the arrangement between Mr. Pettigrew and Rodney continued to their mutual satisfaction. One morning, when Rodney came to the Continental as usual, his new friend said: โI received a letter last evening from my old home in Vermont.โ
โI hope it contained good news.โ
โOn the contrary it contained bad news. My parents are dead, but I have an old uncle and aunt living. When I left Burton he was comfortably fixed, with a small farm of his own, and two thousand dollars in bank. Now I hear that he is in trouble. He has lost money, and a knavish neighbor has threatened to foreclose a mortgage on the farm and turn out the old people to die or go to the poorhouse.โ
โIs the mortgage a large one?โ
โIt is much less than the value of the farm, but ready money is scarce in the town, and that old Sheldon calculates upon. Now I think of going to Burton to look up the matter.โ
โYou must save your uncle, if you can, Mr. Pettigrew.โ
โI can and I will. I shall start for Boston this afternoon by the Fall River boat and I want you to go with me.โ
โI should enjoy the journey, Mr. Pettigrew.โ
โThen it is settled. Go home and pack your gripsack. You may be gone three or four days.โ
CHAPTER XXIV.
A CHANGE OF SCENE.
โNow,โ said Mr. Pettigrew, when they were sitting side by side on the upper deck of the Puritan, the magnificent steamer on the Fall River line. โI want you to consent to a little plan that will mystify my old friends and neighbors.โ
โWhat is it, Mr. Pettigrew?โ
โI have never written home about my good fortune; so far as they know I am no better off than when I went away.โ
โI donโt think I could have concealed my success.โ
โIt may seem strange, but Iโll explainโI want to learn who are my friends and who are not. I am afraid I wasnโt very highly thought of when I left Burton. I was considered rather shiftless.
โI was always in for a good time, and never saved a cent. Everybody predicted that I would fail, and I expect most wanted me to fail. There were two or three, including my uncle, aunt and the friend who lent me money, who wished me well.
โI mustnโt forget to mention the old minister who baptized me when I was an infant. The good old man has been preaching thirty or forty years on a salary of four hundred dollars, and has had to run a small farm to make both ends meet. He believed in me and gave me good advice. Outside of these I donโt remember any one who felt an interest in Jefferson Pettigrew.โ
โYou will have the satisfaction of letting them see that they did not do you justice.โ
โYes, but I may not tell themโthat is none except my true friends. If I did, they would hover round me and want to borrow money, or get me to take them out West with me. So I have hit upon a plan. I shall want to use money, but I will pretend it is yours.โ
Rodney opened his eyes in surprise.
โI will pass you off as a rich friend from New York, who feels an interest in me and is willing to help me.โ
Rodney smiled.
โI donโt know if I can look the character,โ he said.
โOh yes you can. You are nicely dressed, while I am hardly any better dressed than when I left Burton.โ
โI have wondered why you didnโt buy some new clothes when you were able to afford it.โ
โYou see we Western miners donโt care much for style, perhaps not enough. Still I probably shall buy a suit or two, but not till I have made my visit home. I want to see how people will receive me, when they think I havenโt got much money. I shall own up to about five hundred dollars, but that isnโt enough to dazzle people even in a small country village.โ
โI am wiling to help you in any way you wish, Mr. Pettigrew.โ
โThen I think we shall get some amusement out of it. I shall represent you as worth about a hundred thousand dollars.โ
โI wish I were.โ
โVery likely you will be some time if you go out to Montana with me.โ
โHow large a place is Burton?โ
โIt has not quite a thousand inhabitants. It is set among the hills, and has but one rich man, Lemuel Sheldon, who is worth perhaps fifty thousand dollars, but put on the airs of a millionaire.โ
โYou are as rich as he, then.โ
โYes, and shall soon be richer. However, I donโt want him to know it. It is he who holds the mortgage on my uncleโs farm.โ
โDo you know how large the mortgage is?โ
โIt
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