Nelson The Newsboy

"All right," answered Nelson. "But I want to get rid of my morning papers first."

"Well, I have several books to deliver. I'll do that, and then we can meet at the stand after dinner."

So it was agreed, and the pair separated.

Business continued good with our hero, and by eleven o'clock he had sold out. Anxious to look the stand over, he hurried off in that direction.

He found old Maxwell sitting on a soap-box, reading a sporting paper. The stand was full of dust and the stock much disarranged. Evidently the owner had lost interest in it.

"I understand you want to sell out," said Nelson.

"I do," answered Maxwell. "Want to buy?"

"I might buy if you sell out cheap enough."

"I want a hundred dollars."

"A hundred? I thought you'd sell out for seventy-five."

"No, I've been asking a hundred. I might knock off ten dollars, though."

Nelson looked the stand over, and asked some questions about the trade done.

"I'll give you eighty dollars cash," he said, at last.

"Make it ninety."

"No, eighty, and not a cent more."

"When will you take the stand?"

"This afternoon, and I'll pay fifty dollars now."

"All right, you can have it," replied Maxwell.

A bill of sale was drawn up, and Nelson paid the fifty dollars on account. Then he went off for lunch; first, however, taking an account of the stock on hand.

"What you take in from now on is mine," he said.

"All right, you shall have it," replied the old stand-keeper.

CHAPTER XVI.

NELSON AND PEPPER PART

Nelson remained on watch, and as soon as he saw George Van Pelt coming he headed him off and took him around the corner.

"I've bought the stand," he said.

"Already?"

"Yes. I had a talk with old Maxwell, offered him eighty cash, and he took me up. So we've saved ten dollars."

"He'll be mad when he learns he might have had ninety."

"He needn't know. Give me your money, and I'll pay him the balance."

So it was arranged, and Nelson went to the stand and closed the deal. Old Maxwell had taken in thirty-two cents, and this was passed over to the boy.

"Going to run the stand alone?" queried the old man.

"No, a man is going to help me," said our hero.

"Who is it?"

"George Van Pelt."

"Oh, that's it, is it?" exclaimed old Maxwell. "I thought he wanted the stand himself."

"He couldn't raise the money. Here he comes now."

Nelson beckoned to Van Pelt, and soon both were hard at work cleaning up the stand. They talked the matter over and agreed to give old Maxwell a dollar more, if he would come around for two mornings and explain whatever proved strange to them.

"Sure, I'll do it," said Maxwell. "I want you to get the best of the man up on the elevated station and the man on the next block. They are both mean fellows and don't deserve any trade."

"We intend to hustle and get all the trade we can," said our hero.

It must be confessed that he felt very proud of his situation. He was no longer a mere newsboy, but a business man, and he felt, somehow, as if he had grown several inches taller.

"We must have a sign," said Van Pelt. "What will we make it—Van Pelt & Pepper, Newsdealers?"

"I don't like the name Pepper—for a last name, I mean," said our hero, scratching his curly head. "Better make it Van Pelt & Company, for the present." And the next day an oilcloth sign was tacked up proclaiming the new firm, and notifying all that they dealt in newspapers, magazines, books, and school supplies. While Nelson tended the stand George Van Pelt went downtown to a jobbing house and bought some extra stock. In a few days business was in full blast and prospects looked very bright.

"I am glad to see you doing well," said Gertrude, on visiting the stand one Saturday, after giving her music lessons. "It looks quite like a place of business. It won't be long before you'll have a store."

"We'll have to save up for it," answered our hero.

He wanted the girl to stay a little while, but she could not, for Mrs. Kennedy was down with rheumatism and was next to helpless.

"She has been very kind to me and I wish to do what I can for her," said Gertrude.

"Is her stand closed?"

"No, Gladys Summers is running it for her. She has put her flowers in with the other stock."

"Gladys is good-hearted, too," was Nelson's comment.

Sam Pepper heard of the newsboy's new move two days after the stand was bought.