“Um!... You got gumption, young feller. Prepared to pay cash, be you?”
“The man I’m a-sellin’ to, he’ll pay cash.”
“How much?”
“Don’t seem like I ought to tell you that. What I aim to do is to buy this cow off of you as cheap as I can and sell it to him as high as I can. If you knew what he’d pay me, why, you’d charge me more.”
“Maybe so. Can’t tell. But you got business idees all right. Now here, young feller, is a cow I’ll guarantee to be kind and gentle, and capable of fillin’ the pail every evenin’ with the sweetest milk in this section. She’s young and willin’, and I’ll sell her to you for thirty-five dollars.”
“Too high,” says Catty. “Tell you what I’ll do. I’ll give you thirty-two, even. I’ll drive her into town and sell her and fetch back the money in no time.”
“How do I know you won’t run off with the money?” says Mr. Winklereid, but his eyes was kind of twinkling.
Catty looked at him a minute like he was going to get mad, and then he says, “You know by the looks of me,” says he. Just like that.
Mr. Winklereid laughed. “By Jing!” says he, “that was a mighty good answer. You git the cow, Sonny. Wait a minute till I put a leadin’-rope on her. Good luck to you. Any time you got business dealin’s of this here kind jest drop in to see me.”
“Thankee,” says Catty, and in a couple of minutes more we were driving the cow down the road toward Mr. Gackins’s house.