"'Wa'al, yes,' I says, 'I dunno but I would if you'd throw in a pound of
tea an' a halter.'

"He kind o' laughed an' says, 'Wa'al, this ain't no gift enterprise, an'
I guess we ain't goin' to trade, but I'd like to know,' he says, 'jest
as a matter of curios'ty, what you'd say he _was_ wuth to ye?'

"'Wa'al,' I says, 'I come over this mornin' to see a feller that owed me
a trifle o' money. Exceptin' of some loose change, what he paid me 's
all I got with me,' I says, takin' out my wallet. 'That wad's got a
hunderd an' twenty-five into it, an' if you'd sooner have your hoss an'
halter than the wad,' I says, 'why, I'll bid ye good-day.'

"'You're offerin' one-twenty-five fer the hoss an' halter?' he says.

"'That's what I'm doin',' I says.

"'You've made a trade,' he says, puttin' out his hand fer the money an'
handin' the halter over to me."

"An' didn't ye suspicion nuthin' when he took ye up like that?" asked
Mrs. Bixbee.

"I did smell woolen some," said David, "but I had the _hoss_ an' they
had the _money_, an', as fur 's I c'd see, the critter was all right.
Howsomever, I says to 'em: 'This here's all right, fur 's it's gone, but
you've talked putty strong 'bout this hoss. I don't know who you fellers
be, but I c'n find out,' I says. Then the fust feller that done the
talkin' 'bout the hoss put in an' says, 'The' hain't ben one word said
to you about this hoss that wa'n't gospel truth, not one word.' An' when