"Oh, I don't mind--it's a lottery."

"Oh!" said Herbert, in a tone of disappointment.

"Yes," answered Eben. "You may think lotteries are a fraud and all
that, but I know a man in Boston who drew last month a prize of
fifteen thousand dollars. The ticket only cost him a dollar. What do
you say to that?"

"Such cases can't be very common," said Herbert, who had a good
share of common sense.

"Not so uncommon as you think," returned Eben, nodding. "I don't
mean to say that many draw prizes as large as that, but there are
other prizes of five thousand dollars, and one thousand, and so on.
It would be very comfortable to draw a prize of even five hundred,
wouldn't it now?"

Herbert admitted that it would.

"I'd send for a ticket by Monday morning's mail," continued Eben,
"if I wasn't so hard up. The old man's mad because I ran into debt,
and he won't give me a cent. Will you do me a favor?"

"What is it?" asked Herbert, cautiously.

"Lend me two dollars. You've got it, I know, because you were paid
off to-night. I would send for two tickets, and agree to give you
quarter of what I draw. Isn't that fair?"