home-made
leg. But you fix yourself with this artificial extremity, and then
what do you care for dogs? If a million of 'em come at you, what's
the odds? You merely stand still and smile, and throw out your spare
leg, and let 'em chaw, let 'em fool with that as much as they've a
mind to, and howl and carry on, for you don't care. An' that's the
reason why I say that when I reflect on how imposing you'd be as the
owner of such a leg, I feel like saying, that if you insist on
offering only a dollar and a half for it, why, take it; it's yours.
I'm not the kinder man to stand on trifles. I'll take it off and wrap
it up in paper for you; shall I?"

"I'm sorry," said Brown, "but the fact is, I have no use for it. I've
got two good legs already. If I ever lose one, why, maybe, then
I'll----"

"I don't think you exactly catch my idea on the subject," said the
stranger. "Now, any man kin have a meat-and-muscle leg; they're as
common as dirt. It's disgusting how monotonous people are about such
things. But I take you for a man who wants to be original. You have
style about you. You go it alone, as it were. Now, if I had your
peculiarities, do you know what I'd do? I'd get a leg snatched off
some way, so's I could walk around on this one. Or, it you hate to go
to the expense of amputation, why not get your pantaloons altered,
and mount this beautiful work of art just as you stand? A centipede,
a mere ridicklous insect, has half a bushel of legs, and why can't a
man, the grandest creature on earth, own three? You go around this
community on three legs, and your fortune's made. People will go wild
over you as the three-legged grocer; the nation will glory in you;
Europe will hear of you; you will be heard of from pole to pole.
It'll build up your business. People'll flock from everywheres to see
you, and you'll make your sugar and cheese and things fairly hum.
Look at it as an advertisement! Look at it any way you please, and
there's money in it--there's glory, there's immortality. Now, look at
it that way; and if it strikes you, I tell you what I'll do: I'll
actually swap that imperishable leg off to you for two pounds of
water-crackers and a tin cupful of Jamaica rum. Is it a go?"

Then Brown weighed out the crackers, gave him a drink of rum, and
told him if he would take them as a present and quit he would confer
a favour. And he did. After emptying the crackers in his pockets, and
smacking his lips over the rum, he went to