'

"He kind o' laughed an' says, 'Wa'al, this ain't no gift enterprise, an'
I guess we ain't goin' to trade, but I'd like to know,' he says, 'jest
as a matter of curios'ty, what you'd say he _was_ wuth to ye?'

"'Wa'al,' I says, 'I come over this mornin' to see a feller that owed me
a trifle o' money. Exceptin' of some loose change, what he paid me 's
all I got with me,' I says, takin' out my wallet. 'That wad's got a
hunderd an' twenty-five into it, an' if you'd sooner have your hoss an'
halter than the wad,' I says, 'why, I'll bid ye good-day.'

"'You're offerin' one-twenty-five fer the hoss an' halter?' he says.

"'That's what I'm doin',' I says.

"'You've made a trade,' he says, puttin' out his hand fer the money an'
handin' the halter over to me."

"An' didn't ye suspicion nuthin' when he took ye up like that?" asked
Mrs. Bixbee.

"I did smell woolen some," said David, "but I had the _hoss_ an' they
had the _money_, an', as fur 's I c'd see, the critter was all right.
Howsomever, I says to 'em: 'This here's all right, fur 's it's gone, but
you've talked putty strong 'bout this hoss. I don't know who you fellers
be, but I c'n find out,' I says. Then the fust feller that done the
talkin' 'bout the hoss put in an' says, 'The' hain't ben one word said
to you about this hoss that wa'n't gospel truth, not one word.' An' when
I come to think on't afterward," said David with a half laugh, "it mebbe
wa'n't _gospel_ truth, but it was good enough _jury_ truth. I guess this
ain't over 'n' above interestin' to ye, is it?" he asked after a pause,
looking doubtfully at his sister.

"Yes, 'tis," she asserted. "I'm lookin' forrered to where the deakin
comes in, but you jest tell it your own way."

"I'll git there all in good time," said David, "but some of the point of
the story'll be lost if I don't tell ye what come fust."

"I allow to stan' it 's long 's you can," she said encouragingly,
"seein' what work I had gettin' ye started. Did ye find out anythin'
'bout them fellers?"

"I ast the barn man if he knowed who they was, an' he said he never seen
'em till the yestiddy before, an' didn't know 'em f'm Adam. They come
along with a couple of hosses, one drivin' an' t'other leadin'--the one
I bought. I ast him if they knowed who I was, an' he said one on 'em
ast him, an' he told him. The feller said to him, seein' me drive up:
'That's a putty likely-lookin' hoss. Who's drivin' him?' An' he says to
the feller: 'That's D