off in high glee.

The two friends were looking on all the while, and one of them, raising
his voice, shouted out, "Hallo! you boys! what are you doing with that
fox?"

The eldest of the boys replied, "We're going to take him home and sell
him to a young man in our village. He'll buy him, and then he'll boil
him in a pot and eat him."

"Well," replied the other, after considering the matter attentively, "I
suppose it's all the same to you whom you sell him to. You'd better let
me have him."

"Oh, but the young man from our village promised us a good sum if we
could find a fox, and got us to come out to the hills and catch one; and
so we can't sell him to you at any price."

"Well, I suppose it cannot be helped, then; but how much would the young
man give you for the cub?"

"Oh, he'll give us three hundred cash at least."

"Then I'll give you half a bu;[1] and so you'll gain five hundred cash
by the transaction."

"Oh, we'll sell him for that, sir. How shall we hand him over to you?"

"Just tie him up here," said the other; and so he made fast the cub
round the neck with the string of the napkin in which the luncheon-box