“I’m not going to bargain with you,” Dave declared quietly. “At any price you name for an article I shall either accept the price, and pay it, or else refuse further to consider that article. And don’t waste any more of my time. At the first sign of it I shall quit your store and not enter it again.”
Still the Hindu tried high prices for a while, then suddenly held up a necklace set with small, beautiful bits of jade.
“Eighty dollars,” he exclaimed.
“Mex?” broke in Dan quickly.
“Of course, excellency,” confirmed the Hindu.
“See here, David, little giant,” Danny Grin rattled on, “we’ve been going it a bit blind. We’ve been thinking of gold, or American dollars, while this man has been talking on the basis of the Mexican silver dollar.”
In the Philippine Islands the Mexican dollar is still the basis of currency. As this dollar is worth less than half of that amount in gold, the price charged by the Hindu, translated into American money, amounted to less than forty dollars.
“I’ll take it,” Dave announced, after a keen inspection of the necklace.
Payment was made, and the necklace was placed in a box so small that Ensign Darrin was easily able to drop it into one of his pockets.
From the curb outside a pair of glittering, bead-like eyes had peered into the gloom of the store.