"Can I have their noses, too?" Johnny begged. "Can I? Huh?"
"Sure, Johnny."
"Gee! Thanks!"
Johnny O'Toole began to play with his four sturgeon noses, sometimes bouncing all of them at once and sometimes juggling them. Ramsay continued to steal glances at the lake. If everything worked out the way Hans said it would, they would have ... Ramsay dared not think of it, but, even after they paid the skipper of the Jackson for hauling their catch to Chicago, there would be a great deal.
"I'd better be goin'," Johnny O'Toole said. "My Pa, he whales me if I stay out after dark. Thanks for the sturgeon noses. I can trade two of 'em to my brother for a knife he's got."
"You're welcome, Johnny. Come back when we have some more sturgeon."
"I'll do that!"
Bouncing one of the sturgeon noses ahead of him, Johnny O'Toole started up the beach toward Three Points. Ramsay watched him go, then cleaned the last of the sturgeon, put them in a barrel and sealed it. As the evening shadows lengthened, he looked again at the bay. The Jackson still had not put in, and he gave up. The ship would not be here until tomorrow. He left the barrels where they were and went toward the house.
Tradin' Jack Hammersly's four-wheeled cart was again in the yard, its curtains rolled up to reveal the trader's tempting array of wares. His gray horse was in the corral with the little black, and Tradin' Jack Hammersly's stovepipe hat was decorously placed on the bench outside the door. Ramsay grinned faintly as he washed up. The Trader was an eccentric character, and Ramsay suspected that his eccentricities were planned; they made good advertising. But he was likeable, and now they would get more news. Ramsay went into the house.
"Hi, Ramsay," Tradin' Jack greeted him. "How about a pretty ribbon for that girl of yours?"