oven! Walk up lively here. Only one dollar apiece! There's only a few of them left, and I shan't be here again for a month; walk up with your dollar! Get off that wheel, you young devil!" I had climbed up on the wheel to make observations and see if I couldn't sneak a pie, but he was watching and detected my motive; so down I got and stood gaping at him, my mouth wide open; but my hungry look had no effect on him, he had no sympathy for anything except dollars. Finally I thought my brother might have a dollar, so back to him I ran, told him of the pies, but he had not a cent. The knowledge of the pies added two fold to his hunger. "Gosh!" he said, "ain't there some way? Can't you steal one?" "No," I said, "I have tried that. I would have made his horse run away and upset his wagon, but the darned cuss had unhitched him." [Illustration] "Ge!" I exclaimed, "I have it." And off I started. Charley, my brother, owned an old-fashioned silver watch, one of those old "English levers." He thought a great deal of it as a keep-sake and always gave it to me to keep when he was going into action. I had this watch now, and made up my mind I would trade it to the "fakir" and get a lot of pies for us all. Oh! such bright anticipations of hot mince pies. I could almost see them floating in the air as big as cart wheels, and fearing they would all be sold before I could reach the wagon, I ran as hard as I could. The crowd had thinned out and so had the pies. "How many have you got left?" I eagerly asked. "Oh, plenty," he replied; "how many, do you want?" "Well," I said, nearly out of breath, "I haven't any money, but I want all you have, and I'll trade you a nice watch for them." "Say, cully! what yer givin' me? I don't want no watch. Let's see it." I quickly passed it up to him, and stood working my fingers and feet impatiently and revolving in my mind how many pies he would give me and how I would manage to carry them back, when he broke out into a loud, contemptuous laugh, and passed the watch back. "Say, young fellow, that aint no good. I'd rather have a blacking box than that thing." "It's silver," I replied. "That don't make no difference. I'll give you one pie for the thing if you want it, see!" I turned the watch over and over in my hand, my feelings hurt and my stomach disappointed. Then I thought of my brother, forgot that it was his high-priced time-piece, and quickly said: "Give me the pie and take the watch."