id Musq'oosis, "but we always trade wit' Beattie."

"Time you made a change then. He thinks he's got you cinched."

"Gilbert Beattie my good friend."

"Hell! Ain't I your friend, too? You don't know me. Have a cigar. Sit
down. What do you want to see Beattie about in such a rush?"

"I goin' buy team and wagon," said Musq'oosis calmly.

Mahooley laughed. "What are you goin' to do with it? I never heard of
you as a driver."

"I goin' hire driver," asserted Musq'oosis. "I sit down; let ot'er man
work for me. So I get rich."

This seemed more and more humorous to Mahooley.

"That's the right ticket," he said. "But where will you get the
business for your team?"

By way of answer Musq'oosis produced a folded paper from inside the
capote. Opening it, Mahooley read:

This is to certify that I have awarded the Indian Musq'oosis
the contract to freight all my supplies from Grier's Point
to my camp on Beaver Bay during the coming summer at
twenty-five cents per hundredweight.

RICHARD GRAVES,

Dominion Surveyor.

Mahooley whistled. This was no longer a joke. He looked at the old man
with new respect.

"Well, that's a sharp trick," he said. "How did you get it?"

"Graves my friend," replied Musq'oosis with dignity. "We talk moch
comin' up. He say I got good sense." The old man got up.

"Sit down!" cried Mahooley. "I got as good horses as the company."

"Want too much price, I t'ink," said Musq'oosis.

"Let's talk it over. There's my black team, Sambo and Dinah."

This was what Musq'oosis wanted, but nothing of his desire showed in
his face. "Too small," he said.

"Small nothing!" cried Mahooley. "Those horses are bred in the
country. They will thrive on shavings. They run out all winter."

"How moch wit' wagon and harness?" asked Musq'oosis indifferently.

"Six hundred and fifty."

"Wa!" said Musq'oosis. "You t'ink you got race-horses. I give
five-fifty."

"Nothing doing!"

"All right, I go see Beattie."

"Hold on."

Thus it raged back and forth all afternoon. Half a dozen times they
went out to look at the horses. Musq'oosis had to admit they were a
nervy pair, though small. A dozen times the negotiations were called
off, only to be renewed again.

"Be reasonable," said Mahooley plaintively. "I suppose you want a
year's credit. I've got to count that."

"I pay cash," said Musq'oosis calmly.

Ma