worth a quarter. If it's
a red squirrel you may have him for four pence--

"Or for nothing at all," continued Espy, after a moment's pause, "just
as you please."

Wallace laughed.

"What will you sell him for just as he is," asked Wallace, "and we
take the risk of his being red or gray?"

"Don't you know which it is?" asked Espy.

"No," said Wallace, "_I_ do not. I did not go near the cage, and
Phonny did not open it. He says he could only see his eyes."

"And his nose," said Phonny, "I saw his nose,--but I don't know at
all, what kind of a squirrel it is."

"You may have him for eighteen cents," said Espy.

"But perhaps he has gnawed out," said Phonny. "He was gnawing out as
fast as he could when we saw him."

"Why, if he has gnawed out," said Espy, "you will not have anything to
pay, of course; because then you won't get him.

"Or," continued Espy, "you may have him for ten cents, and you take
the risk of his gnawing out. You give me ten cents now, and you may
have him if he is there, red or gray. If he is not there, I keep the
ten cents, and you get nothing."

"Well," said Phonny. "Would you, Wallace?"

"I don't know," said Wallace. "You must decide. There is considerable
risk. I can't judge."

"I have not got any ten cents," said Phonny--"only a quarter of a
dollar."

"Oh, I can pay," said Wallace, "and then you can pay me some other
time."

"Well," said Phonny, "I believe I will take him."

"You must lend me the trap," said Phonny, again addressing Espy,--"to
carry the squirrel home in, and I will bring it back here some day."

"Well," said Espy.

So Wallace took a ten cent piece from his pocket, and gave it to Espy,
and then he and Phonny rode away.

"Now," said Phonny, "we must go ahead."

They rode on rapidly for some time. At length, on ascending a hill,
they were obliged to slacken their pace a little.

"If it should prove to be a gray squirrel," said Phonny, "what a
capital bargain I shall have made. A squirrel worth a quarter of a
dollar, for ten cents."

"I don't see why a gray squirrel is so much more valuable than a red
one," said Wallace. "Is gray considered prettier than red?"

"Oh, it is not his color," said Phonny, "it is the shape and size. The
gray squirrels are a great deal larger, and then, they have a
beautiful bushy tail, that lays all the time over their back, and
curls up at the end, like a plume. The red squirrels are very small."

"Besides," continued Phonny