'You can have it with springs or without. Springs make it easy, but if you break one you are done.'
'Would it be strong enough to carry, say, six hundred weight?'
'Ay, double that, if need be; but of course the lighter the better. You would want a tarpaulin to cover the things up, and you might make a shift to sleep under it if it is wet.'
'No, we will sleep under the waggon; we will have hooks put along all round the bottom board, and a stout canvas curtain with rings to hang; down to the ground and peg down there.'
'That will make a capital tent; have it to open behind, so that you can sit at the entrance and have a fire outside.'
'Can you get me such a vehicle and make a sail-cloth curtain for me?'
'I can do that,' the man said.
'About how much will it cost for a good hickory waggon without springs, and without any particular finish?'
'You would pay about a hundred and fifty dollars; the tarpaulin to come well over it, and the canvas arrangement, might be forty dollars more, though I cannot tell you exactly. If you say two hundred dollars altogether you won't be far from the mark.'
'Very well, you can do it. How much flour shall I take?'