ve out here in the cane?" exclaimed
Godfrey, with a great show of indignation. "Not by no means he won't.
If he don't mind what he's about we'll take the hul on it, Dan, me
an' you will."

"_He_ won't get none on it, you kin bet high on that," said Dan. "I
told him I was goin' agin him, an' so I am. I'll bust his traps as
fast as I kin find 'em, an' I won't do nothin' but hunt fur 'em, day
an' night."

"Now, haint you got no sense at all?" cried his father, so fiercely
that Dan jumped up and turned his face toward the path, as if he were
on the point of taking to his heels.

"Wal, I wanted to go pardners with him an' he wouldn't le' me,"
protested Dan.

"What's the odds? Set down thar an' listen while somebody what knows
somethin' talks to you. What odds does it make to you if he won't go
pardners with you?"

"Kase I want some of the money; that's the odds it makes to me."

"Wal, you kin have it, an' you needn't do no work, nuther. I'm Dave's
pap an' your'n too, an' knows what's best fur all of us. You jest
keep still an' let Dave go on an' ketch the birds; an' when he's
ketched 'em an' got the money in his pocket, then I'll tell you what
else to do. Le' me see: fifty dozen birds at three dollars a dozen!
That's--that's jest----"

Godfrey straightened up, locked his fingers together, rested his
elbows on his knees and looked down at the pile of ashes in the
fire-place.

"It's a heap of money, the fust thing you know," said Dan. "It's
fifty dollars. Dave told me so."

"Fifty gran'mothers!" exclaimed Godfrey. "Dave done said that jest to
make a fule of you. It would be fifty dollars if he got only a dollar
a dozen. If he got two it would be a hundred dollars, an' if he got
three, it would be----"

Godfrey stopped, believing that he must have made a mistake
somewhere, and stared at Dan as if he were utterly bewildered. Dan
returned the stare with interest. "A hundred dollars!" he repeated,
slowly. "That thar Dave of our'n goin' to make a hundred dollars all
by hisself! Some on it's mine."

"It's more'n that, Dannie," said Godfrey, who, as soon as he could
settle his mind to the task, went over his calculations again, adding
the astounding statement--

"An' if he gets three dollars a dozen, he'll get a hundred an' fifty
dollars for the lot."

Dan's astonishment was so great that for a few seconds he could not
speak, and even his father looked puzzled and amazed. He was certain
that he had made no mistake