cker.

"Fred Dill up an' said, 'The man that buys 'im will be the sucker,' an'
everybody laffed, Alf as big as the rest.

"'I think I know whar I could sell his hide,' he said, an' bid ten
dollars. Then somebody--or it may jest have been the show-man's
bluff--raised it to fourteen, an' then Alf went 'im a dollar more an'
got the hoss."

"Another one to feed and doctor," sighed Mrs. Henley.

"I say another," Wrinkle chuckled. "He got all six at about the same
figure. Nobody was biddin' agin 'im except old Welborne, an' he was so
mad he couldn't stand still. They say he had been countin' on havin' it
all his own way, but Alf come home an' turned his cake to dough. Next
come the three road-wagons. Some o' the farmers was interested in 'em,
but they was too heavy fer field-work, an' though Tobe mighty nigh tore
the linin' out o' his throat yellin' agin it as a plumb outrage, Alf
raked 'em in at about the cost of the bare iron in 'em.

"The next item was the lion's cage, an' a big laff started, for Fred
Dill told Alf that it was entirely too clumsy fer a baby-carriage, an' I
knowed then that my joke was goin' the rounds, an' I backed away a
little, fer I didn't like the way Alf looked. But he was still in the
game, an' he walked up to the cage an' ketched hold of the bars an'
sorter shook 'em. It had one of the same heavy wagons under it in good
condition, an' I believe Alf was tryin' to attract attention from the
wagon, for all the time Tobe was talkin' an' sayin' the cage would be a
good thing fer a man to lock his wife up in to break 'er of the
gad-about habit, Alf was examinin' the iron slats an' the bolts an'
bars. It had a big door an' wooden sides that could be tuck off or left
on, an' Dill advised Alf to buy it an' turn gypsy, an' roam about
tradin' here an' yan. But Alf got the thing at his own bid, an' sorter
sneered as he writ down the price on the scrap of paper in his hand."

"For Heaven's sake, what fool caper did he cut next?" Mrs. Henley
demanded, in a tone of impatience.

"Why, he bought the pony an' little wagon fer ten dollars, even money,
an' it was all I could do to keep the baby joke from risin' ag'in. I
could see that Dill was about to spring it, but I shook my head at 'im,
an' he kept quiet. I reckon he thought thar was no use rubbin' it in.
Then everybody got to watchin' the nigger helpers stretch out the big
tent at the sheriff's orders. It was stout, new cloth, an' it glistened
like a patch