Reivers, The - William Faulkner [124]
"I see," Mr van Tosch said. "It was all just to save Bobo. Suppose you had failed to make Coppermine run, and lost him too. What about Bobo then?"
"I made him run," Ned said. "You seen it."
"But just suppose, for the sake of the argument," Mr van Tosch said.
"That would a been Bobo's lookout," Ned said. "It wasn't me advised him to give up Missippi cotton farming and take up Memphis frolicking and gambling for a living in place of it."
"But I thought Mr Priest said he's your cousin," Mr van. Tosch said.
"Everybody got kinfolks that aint got no more sense than Bobo," Ned said.
"Well," Mr van Tosch said.
"Let's all have a toddy," Colonel Linscomb said briskly. He got up and mixed and passed them. "You too," he told Ned. Ned brought his glass and Colonel Linscomb poured. This time when Ned set the untasted glass on the mantel, nobody said anything.
"Yes," Mr van Tosch said. Then he said: "Well, Priest, you've got your automobile. And I've got my horse. And maybe I frightened that damn scoundrel enough to stay clear of my stable hands anyway." They sat there. "What shall I do about Bobo?" They sat there. "I'm asking you," Mr van Tosch said to Ned.
"Keep him," Ned said. "Folks—boys and young men anyhow—in my people dont convince easy—"
"Why just Negroes?" Mr van Tosch said.
"Maybe he means McCaslins," Colonel Linscomb said.
"That's right," Ned said. "McCaslins and niggers both act like the mixtry of the other just makes it worse. Right now I'm talking about young folks, even if this one is a nigger McCaslin. Maybe they dont hear good. Anyhow, they got to learn for themselves that roguishness dont pay. Maybe Bobo learnt it this time. Aint that easier for you than having to break in a new one?"
"Yes," Mr van Tosch said. They sat there. "Yes," Mr van Tosch said again. "So I'll either have to buy Ned, or sell you Coppermine." They sat there. "Can you make him run again, Ned?"
"I made him run that time," Ned said. "I said, again," Mr van Tosch said. They sat there. "Priest," Mr van Tosch said, "do you believe he can do it again?"
"Yes," Grandfather said.
"How much do you believe it?" They sat there. "Are you addressing me as a banker or a what?" Grandfather said.
"Call it a perfectly normal and natural northwest Mississippi countryman taking his perfectly normal and natural God-given and bill-of-rights-defended sabbatical among the fleshpots of southwestern Tennessee," Colonel Linscomb said.
"All right," Mr van Tosch said. "I'll bet you Coppermine against Ned's secret, one heat of one mile. If Ned can make Coppermine beat that black of Linscomb's again, I get the secret and Coppermine is yours. If Coppermine loses, I dont want your secret and you take or leave Coppermine for five hundred dollars—"
"That is, if he loses, I can have Coppermine for five hundred dollars, or if I pay you five hundred dollars, I dont have to take him," Grandfather said.
"Right," Mr van Tosch said. "And to give you a chance to hedge, I will bet you two dollars to one that Ned cant make him run again." They sat there.
"So I've either got to win that horse or buy him in spite of anything I can do," Grandfather said.
"Or maybe you didn't have a youth," Mr van Tosch said. "But try to remember one. You're among friends here; try for a little while not to be a banker. Try." They sat there.
"Two-fifty," Grandfather said. "Five," Mr van Tosch said. "Three-fifty," Grandfather said. "Five," Mr van Tosch said. "Four-and-a-quarter," Grandfather said.
"Five," Mr van Tosch said.
"Four-fifty," Grandfather said. "Four-ninety-five," Mr van Tosch said. "Done," Grandfather said. "Done," Mr van Tosch said.
So for the fourth time McWillie on Acheron and I on Lightning (I mean Coppermine) skittered and jockeyed behind that