just as happy to let you shoot it for them, as long as they get to take the antlers or
skin home. Most of them don’t even want to eat the meat. Most sickening job I
ever had, but those touring companies do a steady business. After that, I went to
work for a blacksmith. Even clerked in a general store for a while. Then I built
my cabin and I’ve been here ever since. I invested my father’s money in a tract
of land up north, with plenty of good timber on it. By the time I’m skint, I figure
the lumber companies will have moved out this way and be ready to start
slaughtering up there. Should show me a good profit. And once I get a little cash
together, I’ll start giving people mortgages.”
“You mean like a bank?”
“Folks out here would rather deal with a face they know than a bank. And
there’s good money in it. Going rate of interest is 7%. But no one who has any
money comes to someone like me in the first place, so most of them can’t make
their payments. You can foreclose or, if they have it, you can charge them 20%
shave money to let it ride. After that they only pay the 7% interest each year, but
nothing on the capital. If that goes on for eleven years, you’ve got all your money back, and they still owe you their farm.”
“Doesn’t ‘foreclose’ mean to take their farm away?”
“Yes.”
“But that would be awful, to force people out of their home.”
“Well, they could always stay on and work it for a percentage. You know, like
hired hands. I wouldn’t be throwing their children into the snow.” He made a sad
face. “Their choice.”
“Still. I think that would be awful.”
“Then business is awful. But if you’re going to take someone’s money and
not pay it back as promised, you’ve got to accept the consequences.”
Olivia could think of no response to that. “Didn’t you ever want to be a
farmer?” she asked.
“Live at the mercy of the Chicago grain pits? Never. When they get done
robbing you, it’s the turn of the railroads, elevator companies, and steamship lines. Farmers work harder and get paid less than anyone in America. They work
like fiends all spring, summer, and fall, and hibernate in their holes all winter.
And their wives. Lord. Who do you think is filling up all the insane asylums they
keep building?” He stopped for a moment to face her. “But don’t worry, I don’t plan to spend all my time dispossessing local farmers. I also write articles for a
journal that the university puts out. A page every month discussing what I learn
about the plants and animals around here.”
“So that’s why you sit out in the woods.”
“I sit out in the woods because I enjoy doing so.” He resumed his brisk pace.
“Fortunately for me, other people are willing to pay to read about the
experience.”
“You write about bears?”
“Bears, wolves, snakes. Last month’s article explained why a rabbit being
