wagon he hired; and say, inside the same was the finest pair o' silver
blacks I ever saw. Then some more wagons begun to show up fetchin' rolls
of wire netting, and bags o' cement to make concrete with. Mr. Coombs
had gone into the fur raisin' business for keeps, and I was to have an
interest in the game. He had an agreement all written out that both o'
us signed before a justice, which fixed things up. Half the proceeds o'
the fur farm was to come to me, while I stayed here to look after
things.

"Well, sir, we worked like fun to git the stockade built 'cording to
form; and our mated pair o' foxes planted in the same. Since then I've
fixed three more enclosures, ready for an increase o' stock. Mr. Coombs,
he called this the Lone Lodge Black Fox Farm, and I guess the name will
stick even after I get to selling off some o' the product."

It was simply wonderful, all of the eager listeners thought. Max could
hardly believe his ears, and yet so far as he could make out Obed seemed
in dead earnest. Besides, he had the documents to prove the truth of his
story, he said, which he would spread before them a little later on.

As for that skeptic, Bandy-legs, he rolled his eyes up many times while
listening, and seemed to be swallowing it with considerable difficulty.
Toby and Steve never questioned the veracity of the narrator; they were
simply amazed at the immensity of the enterprise that had sprung up
almost like a mushroom, over night. Millions on millions of dollars
invested in artificial fur farming, and the general public utterly in
the dark concerning the facts until recently, when its scope could no
longer be concealed, like a light hidden under a bushel.

"And now that you've kinder got an idea of what a big fur farm might be