"I might give ye ten dollars a month an' board, beginnin' the fust of next month, ye to work round for yer board till then," he ventured.
"Very well," responded the boy; and immediately after he added, "I've walked a good ways to-day, and if you don't mind I'll go to my room."
"Perhaps we'd better draw up a paper of agreement an' both of us sign it," suggested Mr. Noman, rubbing his hands vigorously together, as though well pleased with himself and everybody else.
"All right, if that is your custom," said Matt. "Draw up the paper to suit you, and I'll sign it."
After considerable effort, Mr. Noman produced the following document:
"On this 10th day of April, Matt Rives, a miner of New York State, agres to work for me, Thomas Noman. He's to begin work May fust, an' work 6 munths at 10 dollers an' bord. He's too work till May fust for his bord. If he quits work 'fore his time is up he's to have no pay. To this we agre.
Matt read the paper, and could scarcely suppress a smile as he signed his name under Mr. Noman's, and, in imitation of him, added the words "on his part" after the signature.
He knew, however much importance Mr. Noman might attach to it, that as a legal document it had no special force. He simply set down the whole act as one of the whims of his eccentric employer, and gave no more thought to the matter. But it was destined to serve that gentleman's purpose, nevertheless, until taken forcibly from him.
Mr. Noman now showed Matt up to a back room on the second floor, and, telling him that he would call him early in the morning, bade him good-night.
The room Matt had entered was bare and cold; a single chair, a narrow bedstead, a rude rack on the wall to hang his garments upon, were all it contained.
Yet it was evidently with some satisfaction that he opened his bundle, hung up the few clothes it held and prepared for bed.
As he drew the quilts over him, he murmured:
"I don't think I ever had more uncomfortable quarters in my life, and the outlook for the next six months at least is far from encouraging. Still, I would not go back to what I have left behind for anything."
He was tired. The rain that was now falling heavily upon the roof just over his head acted as a sedative and lulled him to sleep. But his was not an unbroken rest, for at times he tossed to and fro and muttered strange, disconnected sentences. One was: