“But my name isn’t on your books.”

“Your father’s is, and if you have any honor about you, you will see the debt paid.”

“That’s what I mean to do, but I can’t pay it now.”

“Can’t wait a single day,” said Silas.  “If the money isn’t forthcoming at once, you can’t get a single thing at my store from this time forward, unless you have the cash to plank right down on the counter.”

“I have always paid you for everything I have bought of you,” said David, with some spirit.

“I know it; but your father hasn’t, and if you want me to show you any favors, you will pay that debt to-day.  You have always been called an honest boy, and if you want to keep that reputation, you had better be doing something.”

So saying, Silas wheeled his horse and rode away, leaving David lost in wonder.

CHAPTER III.

An offer of partnership.

This was the first time David had ever heard that a son could be held responsible for debts contracted by his father.  At first he did not believe it; but Silas seemed to think it could be done, and he was a business man and ought to know what he was talking about.  The truth of the matter was, that Silas Jones was a hard one to deal with.  He wanted every cent that was due him and more too, if he could get it.  It made no difference how poor his customers were, he always found means to make them pay the bills they contracted at his store.  The eight dollars that Godfrey owed him looked almost as large in his eyes as it did in David’s.  He could not bear to lose it, and he did not care what tricks he resorted to to get it.  When he rode away he took all David’s peace of mind with him, “Wasn’t it lucky that I didn’t go down to his store and ask him to trust me for a dress for mother?” thought the boy; as he picked up his hammer and resumed work upon his trap.  “He would have refused me sure.  Now there is only one way I can pay that debt, and that is to ask Don Gordon for the ten dollars he promised to give me for breaking his pointer.  That’s something I don’t like, for the money isn’t fairly earned yet, but I don’t see what else I can do.  Mother must have something to eat, and the only way I can get it is by making a friend of Silas by paying him this debt father owes him.  I don’t care for myself, and as for Dan—­let him look out for number one.  That’s what he makes me do.”

While David was soliloquising in this way he heard a footstep near him, and looking up saw his brother Dan, whose appearance and actions surprised him not a little.  His face wore a smile instead of the usual scowl, he had no coat on, his sleeves were rolled up, and he carried a frow in one hand (a frow is a sharp instrument used for splitting out shingles), and a heavy mallet in the other.  He really looked as if he had made up his mind to go to work, and David could not imagine what had happened to put such an idea into his head.  He stopped on the way to speak to the pointer and give him a friendly pat, and that was another thing that surprised his brother.  Dan would have acted more like himself if he had given the animal a kick.