l him a barg'in. Now what I want to say to you,
deakin, is this: That hoss 'd suit the dominie to a tee in my opinion,
but the dominie won't come to me. Now if _you_ was to say to him--bein'
in his church an' all thet,' I says, 'that you c'd get him the right
kind of a hoss, he'd believe you, an' you an' me 'd be doin' a little
stroke of bus'nis, an' a favor to the dominie into the bargain. The
dominie's well off,' I says, 'an' c'n afford to drive a good hoss.'"

"What did the deakin say?" asked Aunt Polly as David stopped for breath.

"I didn't expect him to jump down my throat," he answered; "but I seen
him prick up his ears, an' all the time I was talkin' I noticed him
lookin' my hoss over, head an' foot. 'Now I 'member,' he says, 'hearin'
sunthin' 'bout Mr. White's lookin' fer a hoss, though when you fust
spoke on't it had slipped my mind. Of course,' he says, 'the' ain't any
real reason why Mr. White shouldn't deal with you direct, an' yit mebbe
I _could_ do more with him 'n you could. But,' he says, 'I wa'n't
cal'latin' to go t' the village this mornin', an' I sent my hired man
off with my drivin' hoss. Mebbe I'll drop 'round in a day or two,' he
says, 'an' look at the roan.'

"'You mightn't ketch me,' I says, 'an' I want to show him myself; an'
more'n that,' I says, 'Dug Robinson's after the dominie. I'll tell ye,'
I says, 'you jest git in 'ith me an' go down an' look at him, an' I'll
send ye back or drive ye back, an' if you've got anythin' special on
hand you needn't be gone three quarters of an hour,' I says."

"He come, did he?" inquired Mrs. Bixbee.

"He done _so_," said David sententiously. "Jest as I knowed he would,
after he'd hem'd an' haw'd about so much, an' he rode a mile an' a half
livelier 'n he done in a good while, I reckon. He had to pull that old
broad-brim of his'n down to his ears, an' don't you fergit it. He, he,
he, he! The road was jest _full_ o' hosses. Wa'al, we drove into the
yard, an' I told the hired man to unhitch the bay hoss an' fetch out the
roan, an' while he was bein' unhitched the deakin stood 'round an' never
took his eyes off'n him, an' I knowed I wouldn't sell the deakin no roan
hoss _that_ day, even if I wanted to. But when he come out I begun to
crack him up, an' I talked hoss fer all I was wuth. The deakin looked
him over in a don't-care kind of a way, an' didn't 'parently give much
heed to what I was sayin'. Finely I says, 'Wa'al, what do you think of
him?' 'Wa'al,' h