s. By a little trick, practiced by the cattle
dealer, the animal was made to look as though she had plenty of milk.

Mattia said that as far as the false tail went we had nothing to fear,
for he would hang onto the tail of every cow with all his might, before
we entered into any discussion with the seller. When I told him that if
it were a real tail he would probably get a kick in the stomach or on
his head, his imagination cooled somewhat.

It was several years since I had arrived at Ussel with Vitalis, where he
had bought me my first pair of shoes with nails. Alas! out of the six of
us who started, Capi and I were the only ones left. As soon as we got to
the town, after having left our baggage at the same inn where I had
stayed before with Vitalis and the dogs, we began to look about for a
veterinarian. We found one and he seemed very amused when we described
to him the kind of a cow we wanted, and asked if he would come and buy
it for us.

"But what in the world do you two boys want with a cow, and have you
got the money?" he demanded.

We told him how much money we had, and how we got it, and that we were
going to give a present, a surprise, to Mother Barberin of Chavanon, who
had looked after me when I was a baby. He showed a very kindly interest
then, and promised to meet us the next morning at the fair at seven
o'clock. When we asked him his charges he refused flatly to accept
anything. He sent us off laughing and told us to be at the fair on time.

The next day at daybreak the town was full of excitement. From our room
at the inn we could hear the carts and wagons rolling over the
cobblestones in the street below, and the cows bellowing, the sheep
bleating, the farmers shouting at their animals and joking with each
other. We jumped into our clothes and arrived at the fair at six
o'clock, for we wanted to make a selection before the veterinarian
arrived.

What beautiful cows they were, ... all colors, and all sizes, some fat,
some thin, and some with their calves; there were also horses and great
fat pigs, scooping holes in the ground, and little plump sucking pigs,
squealing as though they were being skinned alive. But we had eyes for
nothing but the cows; they stood very quiet, placidly chewing. They
permitted us to make a thorough examination, merely blinking their
eyelids. After one hour's inspection, we had found seventeen that
pleased us, this for one quality, that for another, a third because she
wa