"O yes," said Davis; "that business is settled. Cornelius Vanderbilt
is the man."
He was thunderstruck.
"What!" said the commissary, observing his astonishment, is it you?"
"My name is Cornelius Vanderbilt."
"Well," said Davis, "don't you know why we have given the contract to
you?"
"No."
"Why, it is because we want this business _done_, and we know you'll
do it."
Matthew L. Davis, as the confidant of Aaron Burr, did a good many
foolish things in his life, but on this occasion he did a wise one.
The contractor asked him but one favor, which was, that the daily load
of stores might be ready for him every evening at six o'clock. There
were six posts to be supplied: Harlem, Hurl Gate, Ward's Island, and
three others in the harbor or at the Narrows, each of which required
one load a week. Young Vanderbilt did all this work at night; and
although, during the whole period of three months, he never once
failed to perform his contract, he was never once absent from his
stand in the day-time. He slept when he could, and when he could not
sleep he did without it.
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