Every village has its ramshackle, disused store building.  Coldriver had one, especially well located, and not so ramshackle as it might have been.  It was big; its front was crossed by a broad porch; its show windows were not show windows at all, but were put there solely to give light.  Coldriver did not know there was such a thing as inviting patronage by skillful display.

“Sonny,” said Scattergood to a boy digging worms in the shade of the building, “who owns this here ruin?”

“Old Tom Plummer,” said the boy, and was even able to disclose where old Tom was to be found.  Scattergood found him feeding a dozen White Orpingtons.

“Best layers a man can keep,” said Scattergood, sincerely.  “Man’s got to have brains to even raise chickens.”

“I git more eggs to the hen than anybody else in town,” said old Tom, “but nobody listens to me.”

“Own a store buildin’ downtown, don’t you?”

“Calc’late to.”

“If you was to git a chance to rent it, how much would it be a month?”

“Repairs or no repairs?”

“No repairs.”

“Twenty dollars.”

“G’mornin’,” said Scattergood, and turned toward the gate.

“What’s your hurry, mister?”

“Can’t bear to stay near a man that mentions so much money in a breath,” said Scattergood, with his most ingratiating grin.

“How much could you stay and hear?”

“Not over ten.”

“Huh!...  Seein’ the buildin’s in poor shape, I’ll call it fifteen.”

“Twelve-fifty’s as far’s I’ll go—­on a five-year lease,” said Scattergood.  It will be seen he fully intended to become permanent.

“What you figger on usin’ it fur?”

“Maybe a opry house, maybe a dime museum, maybe a carpenter shop, and maybe somethin’ else.  I hain’t mentionin’ jest what, but it’s law-abidin’ and respectable.”

“Five-year lease, eh?  Twelve-fifty.”

“Two months’ rent in advance,” said Scattergood.

“Squire Hastings’ll draw the papers,” said old Tom, heading for the gate.  Scattergood followed, and in half an hour was the lessee of a store building, bound to pay rent for five years, with more than half his capital vanished—­with no stock of goods or wherewith to procure one, with not even a day’s experience in any sort of merchandising to his credit.

His next step was to buy ten yards of white cloth, a small paint brush, and a can of paint.  Ostentatiously he borrowed a stepladder and stretched the cloth across the front of his store, from post to post.  Then, equally ostentatiously, he mounted the stepladder and began to paint a sign.  He was not unskilled in the business of lettering.  The sign, when completed, read: 

    Cash and cut prices is my motto

Having completed this, he bought a pail, a mop, and a broom, and proceeded to a thorough housecleaning of his premises.