to go to the Forest; a cheaper house, but in all other respects equal
to the other. I was rather glad, too, that we were not going to the
same house. Be ever so sociable with a competitor, still the fact
remains that he is a competitor, and his success means your failure.
Under such circumstances a man must be less interested in his business
than I was to permit him to feel very desirous of his competitor's
company.

After registering at the hotel it occurred to me that it would be a
good idea to catch any of the dealers that I could that evening and
break the ice. It might be worth something to make a good impression
before Blissam got around. After getting my bearings well established,
I started to call on Billwock.

Billwock was pretty generally known in the gun trade; first for being
mighty slow pay, and second for the fact that they had a baby at his
shop regularly every year or oftener, and the store was used as
nursery and play-ground. Traveling men had to see the last baby and
count all the old ones, and according as they praised them did old
Billwock buy liberally or not.

The head of the house had said to me, "Don't push goods on Billwock;
he owes us enough already. If you squeeze a good payment out of him
you can sell him a small bill."

This kind of talk is all good enough, so far as it goes; but the poor
devil on the road often finds he can't get a cent, neither can he sell
any goods. The men at home think all he need do is to say, "Here I am;
what is it you want?" and then copy the order as fast as he can write.
But the men who order that way are the kind who never intend to pay