othing as cheap,' said Spotkirk. 'You see I have to have lots
and lots of it. Every day I fill a great tank with the gravel and let
water onto it. This soaks through the gravel, and comes out a little
pipe in the bottom of the tank of a beautiful yellow color; sometimes it
is too dark, and then I have to thin it with more water.'

"'Then you bottle it,' I said.

"'Yes,' said Spotkirk; 'then there is all the expense and labour of
bottling it.'

"'Then you put nothing more into it,' said I.

"'What more goes into it before it's corked,' said Spotkirk, 'is my
business. That's my secret, and nobody's been able to find it out.
People have had Boilene analyzed by chemists, but they can't find out
the hidden secret of its virtue. There's one thing that everybody who
has used it does know, and that is that it is a sure cure for boils. If
applied for two or three days according to directions, and at the proper
stage, the boil is sure to disappear. As a proof of its merit I have
sold seven hundred and forty-eight thousand bottles this year.'

"'At a dollar a bottle?' said I.

"'That is the retail price,' said he.

"'Now, then, Mr. Spotkirk,' said I, 'it will not be easy to convince
Timothy Barker that one-eighth of one per cent. is enough for him. I
suppose he hauls his gravel to your factory?'

"'Hauling's got nothing to do with it,' said he; 'gravel is only ten
cents a load anywhere, and if I choose I could put my factory right in
the middle of a gravel pit. Timothy Barker has nothing to complain of.

"'But he knows you are making a lot of money,' said I, 'and it will be a
hard job to talk him over. Mr. Spotkirk, it's worth every cent of fifty
dollars.'

"'Now look here,' said he; 'if you get Barker to sign a paper that will
suit me, I'll give you fifty dollars. I'd rather do that than have him
bring a suit. If the matter comes up in the courts those rascally
lawyers will be trying to find out what I put into my Boilene, and that
sort of thing would be sure to hurt my business. It won't be so hard to
get a hold on Barker if you go to work the right way. You can just let
him understand that you know all about that robbery at Bonsall's
clothing-store, where he kept the stolen goods in his barn, covered up
with hay, for nearly a week. It would be a good thing for Timothy Barker
to understand that somebody else beside me knows about that business,
and if you bring it in right, it will fetch him around, sure.'

"I kept