a chance to make a few
dimes, but you don't seem inclined to come to time. Here's my specie,
and there's more where that came from."

"Never mind the wager," I said; "you don't belong to the New England
States, I'll take my oath, so you can't catch us in that trap."

"That's so," replied the teamster, with a chuckle; "but what makes you
think so?"

"In the first place, you haven't the accent of a genuine Yankee," I
replied; "and in the next place, a Yankee would not have exposed a
single dollar until he was certain of the company that he was in. Am I
right?"

"Hang me if you ain't, stranger," cried the teamster, in a burst of
generous enthusiasm. "If you ain't a Yankee, there ain't one in the
country."

I pleaded guilty to the charge, and got a warm shake of the hand for my
nationality's sake.

"I ain't a Yankee, that's a fact," my new acquaintance said; "but I
belong to Yankee land, and that's honor enough, by thunder. I'm an Ohio
boy, and just looking round the world to see how it's made afore I
settle on dad's farm, and tie up for life. If I can pick up a few dimes
afore I go back so much the better, and if I don't it won't break my
heart."

We talked with our new acquaintance for near half an hour for the
purpose of breathing our horses, and picking up all the news that had
transpired during our absence. I gave him some good advice, and informed
him that sleeping in his cart while travelling was not the safest plan
that he could adopt, and after a few moments' reasoning he seemed to
think so himself. We bade him good night, and resumed our journey, and
just as day was breaking we drew up our tired horses before the store,
which looked unchanged since our absence. All was quiet and still in the
neighborhood, but we observed that an unusually large number of police
were on duty in the streets, and that many of them were strangers, and
eyed us with suspicious looks, as though not certain which party we
belonged to.

"I'll hold the horses while you rap Fred up," Mr. Brown said,
dismounting.

I was too impatient to see my friend to need a second bidding. I applied
my foot to the door, and gave a thundering kick, that made two or three
suspicious policemen, who had followed us closely, imagine we were
starving for something to eat.

Hardly had I touched the door, when a hoarse growl showed me that Rover
was still alive and capable of doing active duty. I heard the hound
spring from his sleeping place, cross