human
Well, boss, how about it? Andy urged.
gpt
Are yuh game to try her a whirl? We haven't got much, but what we've got is yours if you want to tackle it. We'll be right with you--till hell's no bigger than a bullet ladle.
human
That's just what holds me back. I'd certainly hate to lead you up against a losing proposition, boys. And if I went into it, I'd go in over my eyebrows; if I didn't make good I wouldn't have the price of a tag on a ten-cent sack of Bull Durham when I quit; so I couldn't pay you back--
gpt
Aw, thunder! Think we never set into a poker game in our lives? Think we're in the habit of hollerin' for our chips back when we lose? What's the matter with yuh, anyway?
human
Why, of course we share the risk of losing! Rosemary scowled at him indignantly.
gpt
We'll go in over our eyebrows, too,--and stand on our toes long as we can, to keep our scalp locks showing above water! Her brown eyes twinkled a swift glance around the table.
human
If you think these boys are quitters, Luck Lindsay, you just ought to have been around when they were hanging on to their homesteads! I could tell you things--
gpt
You say buying a camera is just a starter. How much do you figure it would cost to make our Big Picture? Cutting out salaries and all such little luxuries, what would the actual expenses be--making a rough guess?
human
For the Big Picture, he began, while the Happy Family leaned to listen,
gpt
By gracious, we all are! Andy declared quickly.
human
We learned our little lessons when we were building claim shacks for ourselves.
gpt
Good enough! You boys could be stage mechanics as well as leading men, Luck grinned.
human
Add hammers and saws to the outfit. We'd have to build a few interior sets.
gpt
I'll write the Little Doctor that she can have my silver teaset, she informed Andy impulsively.
human
She offered me fifty dollars for it, you know. That would buy lots of beans!
gpt
I've got eighteen hundred and ninety-five dollars in the bank, he announced, reading the figures aloud.
human
And my car ought to bring three or four thousand,--if I can find the man that tried to buy it a month or so before I took the Injuns back. She's a pippin, boys!--
gpt
Oh, your lovely, big, white machine! wailed Rosemary.
human
Would you have to sell it, Luck? Couldn't we squeak along without that?
gpt
Aw, you don't want to sell your car! Pink protested.
human
I know where I can borrow two or three hundred. Maybe the Old Man--
gpt
We'll put this thing through alone, if we do it at all, Luck told him bluntly.
human
Can't afford to work with borrowed capital; the risk is too great. Sure, I'll sell the car. I was thinking of it, anyway, he testified falsely but reassuringly.
gpt
We'll need every cent I can raise. There's chemicals and Lord knows what all; and when we come to making our prints and marketing, why-- he threw out both hands expressively.
human
If we land in Albuquerque with five thousand dollars and our outfit, we won't have a cent to throw away. At that, we'll have to squeeze every nickel till it hollers, before we're through. Believe me, boys, this is going to be some undertaking!
gpt
Nice, comfortable way you've got of painting things cheerful,
human
That's all right. I want you to realize what it's going to be like before you get in so far you can't back out.
gpt
Aw, who's said anything about backing out?
human
Let's get right down to brass tacks and see how strong we can go on money, Andy suggested, pulling a pencil out of an inner pocket.
gpt
Here, girl, you do the bookkeeping while we call off the size of our pile. Put 'er down in this book till you can get another one. You can set me down for two seventy-five--or make it three hundred. I can scrape it up, all right. How about you, Pink? This is hard-boiled figures, now, and no guess work.
human
I've got seventy-five dollars in the bank, he said.
gpt
Add ninety dollars salary, and you have a hundred and sixty-five. Add six dollars and eighty-seven cents, and you have--my pile.