ders" and he surmised that he had such an one to deal with
now. He expected that the man would name a price, after a time, much
higher than he really would accept, and the boy was ready for a
"dicker." He meant to show the other lads how clever and astute he
could be. So he now returned:

"Oh, yes. I think you can if you get your price. Everything has its
price, I've read somewhere--even mules!"

"Young man, life ain't no merry jest. I've found that out and so'll
you. _I cayn't sell Billy._"

"Ten dollars?"

No reply, but the man sat down again beside his priceless mule and
reopened the old book he had been reading when interrupted by these
visitors.

"Fifteen?"

"Twenty?" volunteered Gerald.

"Twenty-five?" asked Melvin. Then in an aside to the other boys: "I
wonder if Dorothy will help pay for him!"

"Sure. This is her racket, isn't it? It was Mrs. Calvert, or somebody,
said we could be towed along shore, as if the Lily were a canal-boat.
Sure! We'll be doing her a kindness if we buy it for her and save her
all the trouble of looking for one;" argued Gerald, who had but a
small stock of money and wasn't eager to spend it.

Jim cast one look of scorn upon him, then returned to his "dickering."
He had so little cash of his own that he couldn't assume payment, but
he reasoned that, after he had written an account of their predicament
to Mr. Winters, the generous donor of the Lily would see that she was
equipped with the necessary "power," even if that power lay in the
muscles of a gigantic mule.

"Oh! sir, please think it over. Hark, I'll tell you the whole story,
then I'm sure you'll want to help a lady--several ladies--out of a
scrape," argued Jim, with such a persuasive manner that Melvin was
astonished. This didn't seem at all like the rather close-tongued
student he had known before.

But the truth was that Jim had become infatuated with the idea of
owning at least a share in Billy. He was used to mules. He had handled
and lived among them during his days upon Mrs. Stott's truck-farm. He
was sure that the animal could be made useful in many ways and--in
short, he wanted, he must have Billy!

In a very few moments he had told the whole tale of the house-boat and
its misfortunes, laying great stress upon the "quality" of its owners,
and thus shrewdly appealing to the chivalry of this southern gentleman
who was playing at farming.

For a time his only apparent listener was old Ephraim, who had
picked