Chapter 3

Chapter 3 begins the second of the book's 13  segments sixteen months after Buck's arrival in boomtown Aven.  Aven hadn't progressed to the point of actually having a bank so negotiations for Buck's first business loan would occur on the front porch of Amos Longshore's big house. 

While working up the courage to ask the richest man in town for a loan, Buck reflected upon his new life as he stood on the street in front of the Longshore's house. Aven had grown from a row of wooden shacks across from a railroad depot. Fresh water from a spring a half mile away from the depot had led to the construction of a whiskey distillery and with it a new commercial district emerged to compete with the one by the depot where Buck worked. 

The hick from the sticks who'd probably never even seen a train a few months before now recognized each engineer's whistle. Buck had met many of the railroad men in town working the counter of Green's store by the depot and was now supplementing his income by pawning the railroad men's pocket watches whenever they needed cash between paydays so they could enjoy Aven's merchandise along with its liquor and girls. Buck felt a little guilty about charging 50 per cent interest every two weeks on his payday loans but he knew he was on the path to riches because he was "willin' to live like a hog in the back of Green's store, and stayin' lonesome because you can't make money by lendin' to friends."

  Longshore's gorgeous daughter answered Buck's knock at the front door and this resulted in Buck discovering he wanted a little more from Longshore than just his money. As he watched the pretty girl walk down the hall to go get her father, Buck craved what he saw, "like finding rock candy in the syrup bucket." 

Suddenly, Buck had more than business on his mind.  The brown paper bag in which Buck carried the down payment for the mortgage he was seeking, along with his well-worn wardrobe, had not enhanced Buck's first impression upon Longshore and seeing Buck's interest  in his daughter didn't help Buck's chances of getting a loan. 

Buck overcame all of Longshore's suspicions simply by allowing the old man to have a glimpse of the inside of the paper sack filled with Buck's greenbacks. When Longshore pointed out that he could easily use his own money to buy the bargain-priced property Buck desired rather than financing Buck's purchase, Buck pointed out that Longshore would rather have Buck's five hundred dollars than a bargain price on the property and Buck was correct. When Buck told the old man, "You want my five hundred," Longshore responded, "You're right and I think I'm going to get it. Come back tomorrow and I'll have the money and the papers ready."

Even though Longshore insulted Buck by calling him a thief for exploiting a tragedy, Buck walks off Longshore's porch and into Aven's night confident that his business plan had made a tremendous leap forward. Buck's last words to Longshore give a good description of Buck's strategy, "I ain't got time to stop and build bridges when I come to a creek. I've got to jump to stay on schedule."