"That's the best I can do."
"Then I'll have to go elsewhere. Come, Jennie," and Nat turned to drive the cow from the butcher's yard again.
"Hold on!" cried the meat man. "I'll give you twenty-two dollars."
"Make it twenty-five and I'll accept. I can't take less. I ought to get thirty dollars."
There was some more talk, and in the end, the butcher agreed to pay twenty-five dollars and did so. He wanted a receipt, and Nat wrote it out for him.
"So you are Nat Nason," said the butcher. "I used to know your father. A very nice man."
"He was a nice man."
"Live with your uncle now, don't you?"
"I have been living with him, yes. Good-day, and much obliged," returned the boy, and to avoid being questioned further he left the yard at once, followed by Sam.
"You made a good bargain on the cow," said Sam. "I reckon you got every cent she was worth."