& Company, Junior?"

"Armstrong, Topsail, Grimm & Company," said Archie, promptly.

"Good luck to it!" wished Sir Archibald.

"No; that's not it at all," said Archie. "Billy Topsail schemed this
thing out. Wish luck to the firm of Topsail, Armstrong, Grimm &
Company."

"Build the firm," said Sir Archibald, "upon hard work and fair play."

Archie hurriedly said they would--and vanished.

"Son is growing up," thought Sir Archibald, when the boy had gone.
"Son is decidedly growing up. Well, well!" he sighed; "son is growing
up and in far more trouble than he dreams of. It's a big investment,
too. However," he thought, well pleased and cheerful again, "let him
go ahead and learn his daddy's business. And I'll back him," he
declared, speaking aloud in his enthusiastic faith. "By Jove! I'll
back him to win!"

* * * * *

At the foot of the stairway Archie collided full tilt with two men who
were engaged in intimate conversation as they passed the door. The one
was George Rumm, skipper of the _Black Eagle_--a timid, weak-mouthed,
shifty-eyed man, with an obsequious drawl in his voice, a diffident
manner, and, altogether, a loose, weak way. The other was old Tom Tulk
of Twillingate. Archie leaped back with an apology to Skipper George.
The boy had no word to say to Tom Tulk of Twillingate. Tom Tulk was
notoriously a rascal whom the law was eager to catch but could never
quite satisfactorily lay hands on. It did not occur to Archie that no
wise skipper would put heads mysteriously together in a public place
with old Tom Tulk of Twillingate. The boy was too full of his own
concerns to take note of anything.

"Hello, Skipper George!" he cried, buoyantly. "I'll see you on the
French Shore."

"Goin' north?" Skipper George drawled.

"Tradin'," said Archie.

Skipper George started. Tom Tulk scowled. "Goin' aboard the _Black
Eagle_?" asked Skipper George.

"Tradin' on my own hook, Skipper George," said Archie; "and I'm bound
to cut your throat on the Shore."

Tom Tulk and Skipper George exchanged glances as Archie darted away.
There was something of relief in Skipper George's eyes--a relieved and
teasing little smile. But Tom Tulk was frankly angry.

"The little shaver!" said he, in disgust.

It was written in the book of the future that Skipper George Rumm and
Archie Armstrong should fall in with each other on the north coast
before the summer was over.

CHAPTER XX