Mr. Newcombe grew more and more astonished as Tom proceeded with his story, but he listened patiently to every word of it, and heard him through without interruption. It did not seem possible to him that a boy, fifteen years old, could seriously entertain such ridiculous ideas. For a long time he sat gazing at the letter, which he still held in his hand, then he read the advertisement, and finally he looked at Tom.
"Mr. Graves told me that you wanted him to credit you for two or three weeks," said he.
"But your lottery scheme has failed; so where would you get the four hundred dollars?"
"O no, it hasn't failed yet, father!" replied Tom. "I am going to give it a fair trial. Haven't you often told me to 'try again, and keep trying, and I'll be certain to succeed?'"
"But just suppose that, with all your trying, the money does not come!" said Mr. Newcombe, who did not think it best to attempt to answer this question. "What will you do then?"
"I will go to work and make it by trading."
"Then you will have to do better than you did before. Have you forgotten your game chickens?"
"O no, I haven't!" drawled Tom. "I ought to have known better than to expect to make any money then, because I wasn't fixed for it; but, if I owned that splendid little sloop, I would be all right. She was built on purpose for a trading-boat, and if I couldn't make four hundred dollars in two or three weeks with her, I would like to know what is the reason!"
"Very well," said Mr. Newcombe, "suppose Mr. Graves was willing to credit you for two or three weeks, and I was willing he should do so, where is your capital to begin with? Where's the money to hire your crew and to buy your first cargo?"
"O, I'll get that from those gentlemen in Baltimore," replied Tom. "But you can't understand this business, father. Just let me alone for a month or so, and I'll show you that I can make plenty of money."
Tom was quite right when he said that his father could not understand the business; indeed, Mr. Newcombe was more than half inclined to believe that Tom did not understand it himself. If his prize failed to come to hand, he would earn the four hundred dollars to pay for the yacht by trading; but he was still depending upon the lottery to furnish the money to hire his crew and buy his first cargo. The merchant had never listened to such reasoning before, and it was no wonder he could not understand it.