"Boni cani calcei!—Good gracious!" exclaimed Holman, "does she think I'm Hercules?"
"No," said Monkey, in a low tone, "but I guess she thinks you're Her—admirer."
"But I suppose it must be done," Isaac added, not hearing Monkey's remark. And he took off his jacket and went to work manfully.
The scissors were soon disposed of, as were also the carving-knife and the drawing-knife; but the other articles were somewhat troublesome. About all he could do with the broad-axe was to grind off the rust that completely coated it. The tinsmith's shears were a heavy job, and the sheep-shears completely baffled him, till he gave up trying to sharpen them on the grindstone, and, finding a file in the tool-box, applied that to their edges, against the solemn protest of Monkey Roe, who declared it would take the temper out of the steel.
"And when Miss Glidden sees them, it may bring her temper out too," he added.
"Can't help it," said Holman, "and now the lot's finished; you may take it in and collect the pay."
He had just begun to study book-keeping, and, opening a little drawer in the machine, he found a scrap of paper, and made out this bill:
| MISS V. GLIDDEN. | ||
| To MR. THE OLD RED ROVER. | Dr. | |
| To sharpening | 3 prs. scissors, @ 6c | $0 18 |
| To sharpening | 2 prs. shears, @ 8c | 16 |
| To sharpening | 1 pr. tinsmith's shears | 15 |
| To sharpening | 1 pr. sheep-shears | 10 |
| To sharpening | 1 drawing-knife | 8 |
| To sharpening | 1 adze | 6 |
| To sharpening | 1 broad-axe | 20 |
| To sharpening | 1 carving-knife | 8 |
| —— | ||
| $1.01 | ||
| Received payment, THE OLD RED ROVER, pr. Holman. | ||
Monkey took this and the armful of cutlery, and carried them in to Miss Glidden, who was somewhat surprised, as she had not known exactly what he was about. However, she laughingly paid the bill, and he carefully piled the articles on the parlor table, and came away.
I observed that Holman put the dollar into the drawer where he had put all the other money, but the cent he put into his pocket. Then he took another cent from another pocket, and threw it into the drawer.