But the Rodney lawyer had no idea of any such wickedness as paying full value for that or any other thing, and the auctioneer hammered away in vain.
“Come,” said Zeb, encouragingly—“come, Skinner, my dear fellow, if a man’s drowned he’ll never be hung. It’s your best chance. Try him again. Say three, now.”
But Skinner was getting sulky over his defeat, and, before he could quite make up his mind to raise the bid, the hammer fell.
“What name?” said the auctioneer.
“Cash,” said Barnaby, and the “best boat on the lake” was all his own.
That is, he and Val Manning owned it between them, for they had decided to “go halves” on the purchase-money.
As for Lawyer Skinner, that gentleman somewhat rapidly withdrew himself from the gaze of the crowd of boys and the tantalizing remarks of Zeb Fuller.
“Well, Mr. Cash,” said Zeb to our hero, “you’ve got the boat, but who’s to pay Puff Evans’s funeral expenses, I’d like to know?”
“Which one is he?” asked Bar.
“The gentleman yonder that reminds you of Daniel Webster,” said Zeb, pointing at the half-stunned and altogether bewildered builder of the boat. “I’ve some business to attend to over at the mill, but I’ll call for the coroner on my way back.”