"'Meester Marshall, hous dings?' asked Isaacs.
"Pointing to the blackened and withering crop, Jack answered: 'They look a little bilious, don't you think so?'
"'Mine Gott! Mine Gott!' was the wailing exclamation. Then, after a pause, 'Ven does you suppose you might pay me, Meester Marshall?'
"'As things have been going of late, I think in about seven years. It is said that bad luck changes about every seven years.'
"'Mine Gott! Meester Marshall,' cried Isaacs; 'haven't you got nodings vot you can pay? I vill discount de bill—say ten per cent.'
"'Nothing that I can think of, except a dog. I have a dog that is worth two hundred dollars, but to you I will discount the dog twenty-five per cent.'
"'O, mine Gott! vot you dinks I could do mit a dog?' said the despairing merchant.
"'Why keep him for his society, Mr. Isaacs,' was the bantering answer. 'With him salary is not so much an object as a comfortable and respectable home. There's too much alkali on the soil to encourage fleas to remain, so there's no difficulty on that score; and he's an awfully good dog, Isaacs; no bad habits, and the most regular boarder you ever saw; he has never been late to a meal since we have been here. You had better take him; twenty-five per cent is an immense discount.'
"By this time the Hebrew was nearly frantic.
"'Meester Marshall,' he said, hesitatingly, 'did you clerk ever in a store?'