and Angie Talcott, the boys
filled with delight, the girls rather frightened at being engaged in
something like a debate with the salesman.

As the latest-coming visitors moved forward, they heard the schoolmaster
finishing his passage at arms with the salesman.

"You should not feel exasperated at us, Mr. Carmichael," said he in tones
of the most complete respect, "for what our figures show. You are
unfortunate in the business proposition you offer this community. That is
all. Even these children have the facts to prove that the creamery outfit
you offer is not worth within two thousand dollars of what you ask for it,
and that it is very doubtful if it is the sort of outfit we should need."

"I'll bet you a thousand dollars--" began Carmichael hotly, when Jim waved
him down.

"Not with me," said Jim. "Your friend, Mr. Bonner, there, knows what
chance there is for you to bet even a thousand cents with me. Besides, we
know our facts, in this school. We've been working on them for a long
time."

"Bet your life we have!" interpolated Newton Bronson.

"Before we finish," said Jim, "I want to thank you gentlemen for bringing
in Mr. Carmichael. We have been reading up on the literature of the
creamery promoter, and it is a very fine thing to have one in the flesh
with whom to--to--demonstrate, if Mr. Carmichael will allow me to say
so."

Carmichael looked at Bonner, made an expressive motion with his head
toward the door, and turned as if to leave.

"Well," said he, "I can do plenty of business with _men_. If you _men_
want to make the deal I offer you, and I can show you from the statistics
I've got at the hotel that it's a special deal just to get started in this
part of the state, and carries a thousand dollars of cut in price to you.
Let's leave these children and this he school-ma'am and get something
done."

"I can't allow you to depart," said Jim more gently than before, "without
thanking you for the very excellent talk you gave us on the advantage of
the cooperative creamery over the centralizer. We in this school believe
in the cooperative creamery, and if we can get rid of you, Mr. Carmichael,
without buying your equipment, I think your work here may be productive of
good."

"He's off three or four points on the average overrun in the Wisconsin
co-ops," said Newton.

"And we thought," said Mary Smith, "that we'd need more cows than he said
to keep up a creamery of our own."

"Oh," replied Jim, "but w