{"id":"01KG8AK9XTNK0VERVN3Q20KVYK","cid":"bafkreifdhdxu3m6fcn2lbcrl2zebqciwctk4njvgw5uj5zakmhmiw5esuy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2260,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.722Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":2162,"text":"CHAPTER IX.\r\n\r\nTWO BUSINESS MEN TRANSACT A LITTLE BUSINESS.\r\n\r\n\r\n----\"Pray, sir, have you seen a gentleman with a weed hereabouts, rather\r\na saddish gentleman? Strange where he can have gone to. I was talking\r\nwith him not twenty minutes since.\"\r\n\r\nBy a brisk, ruddy-cheeked man in a tasseled traveling-cap, carrying\r\nunder his arm a ledger-like volume, the above words were addressed to\r\nthe collegian before introduced, suddenly accosted by the rail to which\r\nnot long after his retreat, as in a previous chapter recounted, he had\r\nreturned, and there remained.\r\n\r\n\"Have you seen him, sir?\"\r\n\r\nRallied from his apparent diffidence by the genial jauntiness of the\r\nstranger, the youth answered with unwonted promptitude: \"Yes, a person\r\nwith a weed was here not very long ago.\"\r\n\r\n\"Saddish?\"\r\n\r\n\"Yes, and a little cracked, too, I should say.\"\r\n\r\n\"It was he. Misfortune, I fear, has disturbed his brain. Now quick,\r\nwhich way did he go?\"\r\n\r\n\"Why just in the direction from which you came, the gangway yonder.\"\r\n\r\n\"Did he? Then the man in the gray coat, whom I just met, said right: he\r\nmust have gone ashore. How unlucky!\"\r\n\r\nHe stood vexedly twitching at his cap-tassel, which fell over by his\r\nwhisker, and continued: \"Well, I am very sorry. In fact, I had something\r\nfor him here.\"--Then drawing nearer, \"you see, he applied to me for\r\nrelief, no, I do him injustice, not that, but he began to intimate, you\r\nunderstand. Well, being very busy just then, I declined; quite rudely,\r\ntoo, in a cold, morose, unfeeling way, I fear. At all events, not three\r\nminutes afterwards I felt self-reproach, with a kind of prompting, very\r\nperemptory, to deliver over into that unfortunate man's hands a\r\nten-dollar bill. You smile. Yes, it may be superstition, but I can't\r\nhelp it; I have my weak side, thank God. Then again,\" he rapidly went\r\non, \"we have been so very prosperous lately in our affairs--by we, I\r\nmean the Black Rapids Coal Company--that, really, out of my abundance,\r\nassociative and individual, it is but fair that a charitable investment\r\nor two should be made, don't you think so?\"\r\n\r\n\"Sir,\" said the collegian without the least embarrassment, \"do I\r\nunderstand that you are officially connected with the Black Rapids Coal\r\nCompany?\"\r\n\r\n\"Yes, I happen to be president and transfer-agent.\"\r\n\r\n\"You are?\"\r\n\r\n\"Yes, but what is it to you? You don't want to invest?\"\r\n\r\n\"Why, do you sell the stock?\"\r\n\r\n\"Some might be bought, perhaps; but why do you ask? you don't want to\r\ninvest?\"\r\n\r\n\"But supposing I did,\" with cool self-collectedness, \"could you do up\r\nthe thing for me, and here?\"\r\n\r\n\"Bless my soul,\" gazing at him in amaze, \"really, you are quite a\r\nbusiness man. Positively, I feel afraid of you.\"\r\n\r\n\"Oh, no need of that.--You could sell me some of that stock, then?\"\r\n\r\n\"I don't know, I don't know. To be sure, there are a few shares under\r\npeculiar circumstances bought in by the Company; but it would hardly be\r\nthe thing to convert this boat into the Company's office. I think you\r\nhad better defer investing. So,\" with an indifferent air, \"you have seen\r\nthe unfortunate man I spoke of?\"\r\n\r\n\"Let the unfortunate man go his ways.--What is that large book you have\r\nwith you?\"\r\n\r\n\"My transfer-book. I am subpoenaed with it to court.\"\r\n\r\n\"Black Rapids Coal Company,\" obliquely reading the gilt inscription on\r\nthe back; \"I have heard much of it. Pray do you happen to have with you\r\nany statement of the condition of your company.\"\r\n\r\n\"A statement has lately been printed.\"\r\n\r\n\"Pardon me, but I am naturally inquisitive. Have you a copy with you?\"\r\n\r\n\"I tell you again, I do not think that it would be suitable to convert\r\nthis boat into the Company's office.--That unfortunate man, did you\r\nrelieve him at all?\"\r\n\r\n\"Let the unfortunate man relieve himself.--Hand me the statement.\"\r\n\r\n\"Well, you are such a business-man, I can hardly deny you. Here,\"\r\nhanding a small, printed pamphlet.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJKFNGPW3W6RK0HAKDQYM","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AK9XT0TNQP12NPZZDE6R1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:59.930Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:07.412Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}