He was a nice fellow, I was anxious to help him along, and, besides that, viewed from a business standpoint, it looked like a good thing, and as I was never averse to taking a chance when there was a good thing in sight I concluded to join him in the venture.
The $500 that I was originally required to invest grew into $1,500, however, before we got the thing on the market, and then the sales started off in lively fashion, and so, not long afterwards, did the ginger beer.
There was a flaw in the formula somewhere, just what it was I never have been able to ascertain, but--well, there was something the matter with it.

It wouldn't stay corked, that was its worst feature, but would go off at all times of the day and night and in the most unexpected fashion.

If the cork would hold, the bottle wouldn't, and as a result there would be an explosion that would sound like the discharge of a small cannon.

Sometimes only one bottle out of a dozen would explode, and then again the whole dozen would go off with a sound like that made by a whole regiment firing by platoons.

It was by long odds the liveliest ginger-beer that had ever been placed upon the market.