d.

"No, sir; just look!" begged Prescott, lifting some jute bagging
from the top of the box, then digging down through the top layer
of cracked ice.

"Brook trout?" cried the hotel man. "Where on earth did you get
them?"

"We have a factory where we turn 'em out nights, sir," volunteered
Dave, with a grin.

"What do you want for them---same price as for the bass?" demanded
the proprietor.

"We could hardly afford to do that, you know," Prescott replied.
"Down in a town like Gridley these brook trout ought to retail
for a dollar and a half a pound. We'll offer them to you, sir,
at sixty cents a pound---flat."

"Take 'em away!" ordered the hotel man, with an air of finality.
This time it was plain that he did not propose to purchase.

"You won't be sorry after we're gone, will you?" asked Dick politely.

"I can't afford to put sixty-cents-a-pound fish on my bill of
fare," said the hotel man.

At this moment two well-dressed, prosperous-looking, middle-aged
men came strolling around the corner of the building. As Dick
was about to cover his fish one of them caught sight of the speckled
beauties, and stopped short.

"Hello! Aren't these fine, Johnson?" the man demanded of the
proprietor. "Going to buy these trout for the hotel?"

"I can't afford to put such costly fish on the bill of fare,"
replied Johnson candidly.

"Man, you don't have to," replied the other. "Send these trout
to the grill-room ice-box. Let guests who want brook trout order
them as extras. Why, I'll eat a few of these myself, if you serve
'em."

"Certainly," nodded the other man.

Proprietor Johnson had caught a new idea from the suggestion of
serving the trout as an "extra" in the grill-room of the hotel.
All of a sudden he began to scent a profit.

"All right, young man," smiled Mr. Johnson. "Begin to unload.
I'll have the scales brought out again."

The weight proved to be a little over one hundred pounds. Dick
accepted an even sixty dollars, while Harry Hazelton nearly strangled
himself in his efforts to keep from cheering lustily.

This money, too, was counted out.

"Are you going to bring any more fish this way?" asked Mr. Johnson.

"I can hardly say as to that, sir," Dick hesitated.

"If you do, I can't agree positively to buy, but I'll be glad,
anyway, if you'll give me the first chance. I will see how these
trout 'go' in the grill-room in the meantime."

"We'll give you the first call, sir," Dick nodded.