CHAPTER VI
GETTING ON
"Old Man" Truex's conditions were the acme of guileless simplicity.
All he wanted was to be left alone; for as he repeated over and over again with senile persistency, he was scared of the Yankee Doodle Glory and "he didn't want nothing more to do with it."
At first he was all for accepting a small cash remuneration for his past services, and he wanted to give to Tom the entire stock of the company, which in the meantime had been incorporated, free of charge.
"Take it," he said; "there ain't any strings attached."
But finally he was persuaded to accept one-half of the net profits every month as his share, leaving control of the property in Tom Graves' hands.
"Now are you satisfied?" he asked.
"Not yet," said Martin Wedekind, "for what's going to become of your half of the profits in case of your death?"
Truex glared at him through his bushy eyebrows.
"I ain't goin' to kick the bucket for a long while yet!" he growled.
"Sure. Let's hope so. But suppose you. . ."
"Well, if I die, let Tom keep the whole lot."
"Haven't you got any relatives, any family, old-timer?" suggested the latter.
"No." Then, suddenly, as if remembering some-
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