Argosy, Vol. 1 (1882) — page 306: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE AMERICAN SYNDICATE. be flush, but that I can't have, and I shall have to think out another device, for, of course, it won’t do to touch Don Octavio again so soon.” In the evening the Ponce caterers turned up at Joe’s hotel, more wrathful than ever, but less excited. The bitter facts of the situation had chastened them. Not one freezer in all St. Thomas did they find that had not been gobbied up by their Yankee rival. They came now, not because they expected to gain anything by it, but because it was the only desperate course left for them, and they had some little hope that by threatening Joe with an adverse public opinion which they might arouse in Ponce, they could in- duce him to retreat somewhat: from the strict terms of the contract. - Joe did not give them time to voice their feelings. “Gentlemen,” he said, “I read in your faces that you have learned the whole truth. The means to pursue the most profitable part of your business has been taken from you. The whole matter is one of straightforward busi- -ness transactions: and we won't discuss it, for I have got another matter to lay before you. “Properly handled, gentlemen, there is business enough in ice cream for all of us, and I propose that you gentle- men, and your associates, all become my agents. I will give you a good, rea- sonable commission upon your deal- ings. I will add freezers to your stock rather than take them away, and thus enable you to keep the patronage that now makes your business profitable. You understand, of course, that if I take your freezers, and you are thereby unable to supply your customers with ice cream, many who come to you for cakes and other such things will be driven away. Now I want you to keep all their trade, and there is no reason why we should not work together.” The Porto Ricans listened to him open mouthed. They could not grasp his proposition at first. It seemed to 297 open to them possibilities happier than they had dreamed could exist since they had discovered how he had cut their resources from under them. On the other hand, anything Joe said was now viewed by them with suspicion. * What devil’s design has he hidden under this offer’? ” said one to another. Joe heard the question, and an- swered it in perfect good humor, going rapidly into details, and showing them how his scheme was not only not going to ruin them, but was likely to place them on a much better business foot- ing than they had occupied before. He talked as readily as if he had had this plan in mind from the beginning, instead of having to hustle it together as a desperate expedient late that after- noon. Miguelo Marto, his secretary, would act—he said—as his inspector, collector and general agent. Marto would keep the accounts of the dairy men and others who furnished the ma- terials for making ice cream. He would have an eye each day upon the output and would also exercise an authority to see that the supply was kept up to the demand constantly. The Ponce caterers listened in si- lence until Joe had finished. Then they asked a few questions. They thought they knew Marto. Was he the poverty stricken relative of the great Don Octavio? They be- lieved they could trust him, but was Don Octavio back of it? They had seen the don, or one of them had, in senor Barber’s office. “ Don Octavio,” said Joe, emphatic- ally, “ has nothing whatever to do with this business, and knows not the first thing about it.” The upshot of the conversation was that the caterers said they would think it over. They felt inclined to accept the arrangement, for unhappily, they could see no other way to avoid ruin. Joe was content enough to let them think it over, for he was positive that they would have to come to his terms. Seeborg managed to get a deters CO