He started off without a word, and I proceeded to get acquainted with
the young man who said "Naw!"

Of all creatures on the face of the earth the average clerk is the
easiest to pump. The fact that a man is from a wholesale house seems
to be sufficient guarantee that he may safely be told anything
regarding prices, and where goods came from. The moment Tucker went
out the door Bob stopped his work, and for fifteen minutes he kept his
tongue wagging about the cost of goods and all he knew about them. He
was so incautious that I soon learned his cost mark, and then did not
need to ask cost afterward.

How did I do it? Bless you! Every traveling man does it in spite of
himself. For instance, I pick up a box and notice it is marked L.X.K.,
and I ask the clerk, while I look at the revolver, What did this cost?

He turns the box up to see the mark, and answers, $2.25.

This may be the truth, or may not. If it is, "L" is 2 and "K" is 5,
and "X" means "repeat." So by and by I find a box marked B.L.K., and I
ask the cost of that. He answers, $1.25. I am now sure that B is 1, L
is 2 and K is 5, and I can easily guess that A and C are 3 and 4. By
finding boxes with other letters on, and learning from the boy what
the mark is, I soon have "Black horse" as the cost mark in that store.
I make a note of this in my trip book so that I can use it when I am
here again, or when our other man is here.

My way now is tolerably smooth. If he really needs goods the merchant
will be willing to order at prices paid before; if he thinks he does