his flask, saying that it would be no more than good manners to
christen the pints. The fishmonger answered that he had no
objection, the weather being very oppressive. A stout draft was now
poured into each cup, and having myself declined, compliments and
bows, such as the fishmonger had never before received, were
exchanged, and the whiskey drank with great apparent satisfaction.

"As the sun is warm, and my profits to day have not amounted to
much," said the fishmonger, with an air of stupidity that by no
means pleased the major, "I must hurry these ere fish through!" The
major expected a different return for his generosity, and reminded
his friend that he had not yet showed him a sample of his wares. At
the word, the other mounted his little box of a wagon, and in a
trice laid three cod and two flabby haddock upon the lid, declaring
they were as fresh and bright as a new-coined quarter. And though at
the most rapid pace his horse could travel, he was more than six
hours from the nearest sea-shore, he was ready to swear by the hair
of his head, of which he had but little, they were only two hours
caught. "Five cents a pound for the cod, and four for the haddock!"
ejaculated the fishmonger, raising a haddock by the gills, as if to
assert some near point to the notch it would bring down on the
steelyard. "Well, to you, here, have the cod for four and a half;
that's offsettin' your good turn, and I make it a point never to be
out of the way with a fellow trader." Saying this, he hung a codfish
to the hook of his steelyards, and finding seven pounds marked, said
thirty cents would cover the cost, that being a cent and a half more
off. Generosity, the Major saw, was not bait that tempted the
fishmonger to reciprocity. "I should like two of them at the price
you name; but as paying cash is not in my line, perhaps we can
trade, somehow? By my military reputation, I never let a chance to