Horse of a Different Color by Ralph Moody Read Free Book Online Page A

was . . . ”
    “Wouldn’t work!” Bones snapped. “If all the stock was in one lot and all the feed in one place, how could the lender tell what feed and animals were mortgaged on each loan?”
    “That’s what I was coming to,” I said, “and I think it would keep the arrangement from being a partnership. The feed on hand at any time could be divided by measuring, so there would never be any difficulty in separating the halves. Each man could buy his own half of the feeder stock and hoof brand it before putting it into the feed lot, then separate it by brands at any time. There’s just one trouble with that: if one man bought poorer feeder stock than the other and paid half the feed bill, he’d come out with the short end of the stick. To get around that it would seem to me that all the feeders could be bought jointly, put into the lot unbranded, and divided one and one—the way kids choose up sides for a game of one-old-cat—whenever there was any reason for separating the halves.”
    “Now we’re getting somewhere!” Bones said approvingly. “If the chattels can be separated at any time, so that each man can stand alone with his own property and obligations, I don’t see how there’d be a partnership even though the stock was fed in one lot with feed from the same stacks and piles. I’m no lawyer, but I’ll tell you this: if you and Bob will team up that way I’ll make you separate loans—that is if he’ll agree to a few things I’d require—and guarantee never to hold you liable for a dime of his debts.”
    “Would you put that in writing so that no one could ever question it?” I asked.
    “I’d write it on the face of your note if you’d like it that way,” he told me. “It would then be a part of the loan agreement, and I don’t believe there’s a court in the world that wouldn’t honor it.”
    “What interest rate would you charge us?” I asked.
    “Why the standard rate—ten per cent a year,” he said. “But I’ll make you twelve-month feed loans and four-month livestock loans, with the option of repaying any part and cutting off the interest at earlier dates.”
    “That’s okay,” I said, “but there are a couple of other things I’d like to get settled before you call Bob. I won’t go in any deeper than three hundred steers and half that many hogs. If you put up the entire investment you’d be entitled to considerable control of the business. But I want a free hand in operating my half, and the right to terminate the agreement and separate my stock from Bob’s at any time I consider his acts to be negligent, wasteful, or harmful to the business. In exchange, I’ll invest two thousand dollars of my own money and put up my horses and wagons as additional security. If we can do business on that basis, and if Bob can do no buying, selling, or hiring without my approval, I’ll agree to feed stock with him, and to buy half the hay, corn, and hogs on his place at a value to be set by George Miner.”
    I think my offer to mortgage my horses and wagons was a big surprise to Bones. He stuck out his hand to shake, and said, “As far as I’m concerned, it’s a deal, son.”
    Bob must have been expecting Bones’s call, for he got to the bank within ten minutes. Twenty minutes later he’d consented to all my conditions and we’d reached an agreement to operate jointly but not as partners in the livestock-feeding business. We also agreed that I would move my trading and shipping operations to his place and have use of the bunkhouse, sorting pens, and scales in exchange for paying half the land mortgage interest and real estate taxes. In addition to half the cost of feeder steers and operating expenses, Bones agreed to lend Bob six hundred dollars for living expenses during the four-month feeding period, but demanded that all his notes become due immediately if our joint venture was terminated.
    As soon as all the agreements had been reached I drove over to ask George