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"So you won't return with us, young man?" said Macgregor to March Marston as he mounted his horse. "I'm in want of a stout young fellow, and you'll like the life." "I thank ye, sir, for your good opinion," returned March; "but my mind's made up: I'll stick by my comrades; I like trappin', but I don't like tradin' though I'm obliged to you for bein' so pressin' all the same."
But I did, and I knew he was goin' to back my bluff. "Any time before five will do," says he. "Wait! You'd better take a check with you." If we was lookin' to get any gasps out of that bunch, we had another guess comin'. They knew Old Hickory's fondness for tradin' on his reputation, and that he didn't always pull it off.
There was a small tradin' schooner wrecked off one of these islands when we were lyin' there in harbour during a storm. The crew was lost, all but three men, who swam ashore. The moment they landed they were seized by the natives and carried up into the woods.
They'd the smallpox there, sir, accordin' t' rumour; but we wasn't afeard o' cotchin' it thinkin' we'd not cotched it at Poor Luck Harbour an' sailed right in t' do the tradin'. We had the last quintal aboard at noon o' the next day; an' we shook out the canvas an' laid a course t' the nor'ard, with a fair, light wind.
We kin take nuthin' out'n this world, no matter what kind o' a line o' goods we kerry in life. Heaven's no place fur tradin', I understan', an' I do wonder sometimes how in the worl' them merchants an' sech in the valley towns air goin' ter entertain tharse'fs in the happy land o' Canaan. It's goin' ter be sorter bleak fur them, sure's ye air born."
Some folks 'lows a hoss trader ain' got no conscience, but dey doan know me, fer dat is my weak spot, en de reason I ain' made no mo' money hoss tradin'. Fac' is, sezee, 'I is got so I can't sleep nights fum studyin' 'bout dat spavin' hoss; en I is made up my min' dat, w'iles a bahg'in is a bahg'in, en you seed Lightnin' Bug befo' you traded fer 'im, principle is wuth mo' d'n money er hosses er niggers.
Nothing but coarse gold for you-all, that's your way, not getting half of it out of the ground and losing into the tailings half of what you-all do get. "But the men that land big will be them that stake the town sites, organize the tradin' companies, start the banks " Here the explosion of mirth drowned him out. Banks in Alaska! The idea of it was excruciating.
"I hev got two shoats, a bag o' dried peaches, two geese, an' I'm tradin' with mam fur a gayn-der." He quietly slipped the small bit of shining metal in his pocket. "I hev got," he droned, waxing very impressive, "a red heifer." Ike paused meditatively, his hammer in his hand. A new hope was dawning within him.
"He's risin' six years," said Zebulon, and so he was. "He looks pretty well along," said the widow. "How much boot will you give me?" "Boot!" exclaimed Zebulon. "O, if you talk about boot, I'm off. I ain't no horse jockey, but I know I'm flingin' my hoss good old hoss away by tradin' even. But generosity and consideration for widders specially good-lookin' ones was allers a failin' in my family."
The ear-muff brigade was lettin' themselves out in fine style, tradin' in Ground Hog bonds, Hoboken gas, Moonshine preferred, and a whole lot of other ten-cent shares, as earnest as if they was under cover and biddin' on Standard Oil firsts. While I was lookin' 'em over, wonderin' what to do next, I spots Abey Winowski on the fringe of the push.
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