"Wasn't none to speak of," replied Annabel carelessly. "Sold a couple of
spools of cotton and--and some salt pork and sugar. Ezra Howland bought
the pork. He wasn't satisfied; said there wasn't enough lean in it to
suit him, but I let him have it a cent cheaper, so he took it."

Mr. Hamilton seemed a trifle disappointed. "Was that all?" he asked,
with a sigh.

"Yup. No, 'twa'n't neither, come to think of it. Rastus Young's wife,
come in with her two young-ones and bought some shoes and hats for 'em."

"Did she pay cash?" demanded Captain Shadrach sharply.

"No; she said charge 'em up, so I done it. Say, ain't you comin' in
pretty soon? It's 'most my supper time."

Zoeth opened his mouth to answer, but the Captain got ahead of him.

"It's our supper time, too," he said, crisply. "When we've had it you
can have yours. Get dap, January."

The horse, whose name was Major but who was accustomed to being
addressed by almost any name, jogged on. Mr. Hamilton sighed once more.

"I'm 'fraid one of us had ought to stayed in the store, Shadrach," he
said. "Annabel means well, she's real obligin'; but she ain't a good
hand at business."

Shadrach snorted. "Obligin' nothin'!" he retorted. "We're the ones that
was obligin' when we agreed to pay her seventy-five cents for settin'