"Well, I must say!" she retorted to the empty air. "If I live, I must
say!"

Dilly took her placid companion by the arm, and hurried her on. Human
jangling wore sadly upon her; under such maddening onslaught she was
not incapable of developing "nerves." They stopped before a stall where
another heifer stood, chewing her cud, and looking away into remembered
pastures.

"Oh, see!" said Molly, "'Price $500'! Do you b'lieve it?"

"Well, well!" came Mrs. Eli Pike's ruminant voice from the crowd. "I'm
glad I don't own that creatur'! I shouldn't sleep nights if I had five
hunderd dollars in cow."

"Tain't five hunderd dollars," said Hiram Cole, elbowing his way to the
front. "'Tain't p'inted right, that's all. P'int off two ciphers--"

"Five dollars!" snickered a Crane boy, diving through the crowd, and
proceeding to stand on his head in a cleared space beyond. "That's wuth
less'n Miss Lucindy's hoss!"

Hiram Cole considered again, one lean hand stroking his cheek.

"Five--fifty--" he announced. "Well, I guess _'tis_ five hunderd, arter
all! Anybody must want to invest, though, to put all their income into
perishable cow-flesh!"

"You look real tired," whispered Molly. "Le's come inside, an' perhaps
we can set down."