demonstrated, over a period of five years, that I can sell my share of
anything that has a hockable value. I have always found, however, that
before proceeding to sell goods I had to sell the manufacturer of those
goods something, to-wit--myself! I am about to sell myself to you."

"Son," said Cappy smilingly, "you win. You've sold me already. When did
they sell you a membership in the military forces of the United States
of America?"

"On the morning of April 7th, 1917, sir."

"That clinches our sale. I soldiered with the Knights of Columbus at
Camp Keamy myself, but when they refused to let me go abroad with my
division my heart was broken, so I went over the hill."

That little touch of the language of the line appeared to warm Mr.
Peck's heart considerably, establishing at once a free masonry between
them.

"I was with the Portland Lumber Company, selling lumber in the Middle
West before the war," he explained. "Uncle Sam gave me my sheepskin at
Letter-man General Hospital last week, with half disability on my ten
thousand dollars' worth of government insurance. Whittling my wing was a
mere trifle, but my broken leg was a long time mending, and now it's
shorter than it really ought to be. And I developed pneumonia with
influenza and they found some T.B. indications after that. I've been at
the government tuberculosis hospital at Fort Bayard, New Mexico, for a
year. However, what's left of me is certified to be sound. I've got five
inches chest expansion and I feel fine."