t, I
know--that I'll actually knock that leg down to you at four hundred
dollars. Four hundred, did I say? I meant six hundred; but let it
stand. I never back out when I make an offer; but it's just throwing
that leg away--it is, indeed."

"But I don't want an artificial leg," said Brown.

"The beautiful thing about the limb," said the stranger, pulling up
his trousers and displaying the article, "is that it is reliable. You
kin depend on it. It's always there. Some legs that I have seen were
treacherous--most always some of the springs bursting out, or the
joints working backwards, or the toes turning down and ketching in
things. Regular frauds. But it's almost pathetic the way this leg
goes on year in and year out, like an old faithful friend, never
knowing an ache or a pain, no rheumatism, nor any such foolishness as
that, but always good-natured and ready to go out of its way to
oblige you. A. man feels like a man when he gets such a thing under
him. Talk about your kings and emperors and millionaires, and all
that sort of nonsense! Which of 'em's got a leg like that? Which of
'em kin unscrew his knee-pan, and look at the gum thingamajigs in his
calf? Which of 'em kin leave his leg downstairs in the entry on the
hat-rack, and go to bed with only one cold foot? Why, it's enough to
make one of them monarchs sick to think of such a convenience. But
they can't help it. There's only one man kin buy that leg, and that's
you. I want you to have it so bad that I'll deed it to you for fifty
dollars down. Awful, isn't it. Just throwing it away: but take it,
take it, if it does make my heart bleed to see it go out of the
family."

"Really, I have no use for such a thing," said Mr. Brown.

"You can't think," urged the stranger, "what a benediction a leg like
this is in a family. When you don't want to walk with it, it comes
into play for the children to ride horsey on; or you kin take it off
and stir the fire with it in a way that would depress the spirits of
a man with a real leg. It makes the most efficient potato-masher ever
you saw. Work it from the second joint, and let the knee swing loose;
you kin tack carpets perfectly splendid with the heel; and when a cat
sees it coming at him from the winder, he just adjourns, _sine die_,
and goes down off the fence screaming. Now, you're probably afeared
of dogs. When you see one approaching, you always change your base. I
don't blame you; I used to be that way before I lost my