is
much like the wind: it blows every which way; and if a man does but
trim his sails to suit, he can bowl along in any direction without
much wear and tear of the spirit. Pinch-a-Penny bowled along,
paddle-punt fisherman to Gingerbread merchant. He went where he was
bound for, wing-and-wing to the breeze behind, and got there with his
peace of mind showing never a sign of the weather. In my day the old
codger had an easy conscience and twenty thousand dollars.

Long Tom Lane, of Gingerbread Cove, vowed in his prime that he'd sure
have to even scores with Pinch-a-Penny Peter afore he could pass to
his last harbor with any satisfaction.

"With me, Tom?" says Pinch-a-Penny. "That's a saucy notion for a
hook-an'-line man."

"Ten more years o' life," says Tom, "an' I'll square scores."

"Afore you evens scores with me, Tom," says Peter, "you'll have t'
have what I wants an' can't get."

"There's times," says Tom, "when a man stands in sore need o' what he
never thought he'd want."

"When you haves what I needs," says Peter, "I'll pay what you asks."

"If 'tis for sale," says Tom.

"Money talks," says Peter.

"Ah, well," says Tom, "maybe it don't speak my language."

Pinch-a-Penny Peter's conscience was just as busy as any other man's
conscience. And it liked its job. It troubled Pinch-a-Penny. It
didn't trouble un to be honest; it troubled un to be rich. And it
give un no rest. When trade was dull--no fish coming into
Pinch-a-Penny's storehouses and no goods going out of Pinch-a-Penny's
shop--Pinch-a-Penny's conscience made un grumble and groan like the
damned. I never seed a man so tortured by conscience afore nor since.
And to ease his conscience Pinch-a-Penny would go over his ledgers by
night; and he'd jot down a gallon of molasses here, and a pound of
tea there, until he had made a good day's trade of a bad one. 'Twas
simple enough, too; for Pinch-a-Penny never gived out no accounts to
amount to nothing, but just struck his balances to please his greed
at the end of the season, and told his dealers how much they owed him
or how little he owed them.

In dull times Pinch-a-Penny's conscience irked him into overhauling
his ledgers. 'Twas otherwise in seasons of plenty. But Pinch-a-Penny's
conscience kept pricking away just the same--aggravating him into
getting richer and richer. No rest for Pinch-a-Penny! He had to have
all the money he could take by hook and crook or suffer the tortures
of an evil consci