ou the outfit right now."

Saxon saw the wagon and was so infatuated with it that she lost a
night's sleep from sheer insomnia of anticipation. Then Caswell's six
horses were sold, the month's bills held over, and the wagon became
theirs. One rainy morning, two weeks later, Billy had scarcely left the
house, to be gone on an all-day trip into the country after horses, when
he was back again.

"Come on!" he called to Saxon from the street. "Get your things on an'
come along. I want to show you something."

He drove down town to a board stable, and took her through to a large,
roofed inclosure in the rear. There he led to her a span of sturdy
dappled chestnuts, with cream-colored manes and tails.

"Oh, the beauties! the beauties!" Saxon cried, resting her cheek against
the velvet muzzle of one, while the other roguishly nuzzled for a share.

"Ain't they, though?" Billy reveled, leading them up and down before her
admiring gaze. "Thirteen hundred an' fifty each, an' they don't look the
weight, they're that slick put together. I couldn't believe it myself,
till I put 'em on the scales. Twenty-seven hundred an' seven pounds,
the two of 'em. An' I tried 'em out--that was two days ago. Good
dispositions, no faults, an' true-pullers, automobile broke an' all
the rest. I'd back 'em to out-pull any team of their weight I ever
seen.--Say, how'd they look hooked up to that wagon of ourn?"

Saxon visioned the picture, and shook her head slowly in a reaction of
regret.

"Three hundred spot cash buys 'em," Billy went on. "An' that's bed-rock.
The owner wants the money so bad he's droolin' for it. Just gotta sell,
an' sell quick. An' Saxon, honest to God, that pair'd fetch five hundred
at auction down in the city. Both mares, full sisters, five an' six
years old, registered Belgian sire, out of a heavy standard-bred mare
that I know. Three hundred takes 'em, an' I got the refusal for three
days."

Saxon's regret changed to indignation.

"Oh, why did you show them to me? We haven't any three hundred, and you
know it. All I've got in the house is six dollars, and you haven't that
much."

"Maybe you think that's all I brought you down town for," he replied
enigmatically. "Well, it ain't."

He paused, licked his lips, and shifted his weight uneasily from one leg
to the other.

"Now you listen till I get all done before you say anything. Ready?"

She nodded.

"Won't open your mouth?"

This time she obediently shook her h