calm, though her thin little face paled and
flushed. "You never know what Jicksy will do next," she said, proudly.

Sweet Apple Hill turned out; so did half Bayberry Corner; every one ran
towards the turnpike-road; even the sewing-circle supper-table was
deserted in undignified haste.

It _was_ Jicksy, footsore and begrimed, and accommodating his gait to
the tread of a creature whose body seemed to be set upon stilts, and
whose neck might, as Phemie declared, be tied into a double bow-knot.
The animal was lame, and its head wagged in a curious fashion.

Gideon, seeing his partner afar off, felt a thrill of delight in his
honesty, which seemed probable since he was returning, but it was
followed by a painful doubt concerning his "business bump." Jicksy had
wished to buy Aaron Green's old horse, which Aaron would sell for twenty
dollars. It was a good horse for the money, and it could easily be kept
on their little farm; and the old blue cart in the barn could be
repaired at very small expense, and perhaps what Jicksy said was
true--that you had to have some style to a business to advertise it.
Nevertheless, Gideon had not consented to buy Aaron Green's horse; he
had felt that the twenty-four dollars and sixty-four cents must go under
his bed-ticking with the seven dollars and fifty-nine cents, where he
could count it every night. He felt a wild fear that Jicksy had bought
the giraffe to draw the blue cart, following his theory that there was
nothing like attracting attention to your business.

"I didn't run away!" Jicksy was saying angrily, as Gideon pressed
through the crowd. "Gid understood that it was business that kept me,
didn't you Gid?" But Gideon looked away; he couldn't say that he had
understood, and he was certain that he didn't understand now about that
giraffe.

"I heard that McColloh's show was stranded down to Westport; that's the
show I b'longed to once; couldn't pay their bills, and the sheriff was
after 'em; I thought maybe I could get a horse, cheap." There was
silence as the crowd listened to Jicksy's explanation; only now and then
a shrill question interrupted him. "Foot it? Of course I did." (It was
twenty miles to Westport.) "I wasn't goin' to fool away the firm's
money. Comin' back I had the giraffe; they're slow travellers, and
Squashy is lame. There wasn't any horse that I could buy--trained horses
and Shetland-ponies, and they were selling high. Squashy is lame and
old, and sometimes he g