Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Friendship -- Juvenile fiction; Manners and customs -- Juvenile fiction
"Lots of bus'nesses uses nets," replied Sube with an air of superiority;
"but that is neither here nor there."
At this second flight Gizzard began to feel that he was seriously
handicapped by his lack of education. But he struggled as best he could
against the overwhelming odds by asking rather peevishly:
"What bus'nesses uses nets? Name one!"
"Fishermen use nets; but that is neither here nor there. I'll tell you
another--"
"I'm goin' home," muttered Gizzard, beginning to feel that he was
entirely outclassed.
"Don't you want to be in the new bus'ness?" asked Sube in astonishment.
"Not unless I know what it is," murmured Gizzard as he tarried in the
doorway.
"Why, it's catchin' wild animals!" shouted Sube in his enthusiasm.
"We'll tangle 'em up in the net so's they can't get away and then we'll
shut 'em up in cages and sell 'em!"
"That ain't a bus'ness," growled Gizzard sullenly; "it's nuthin' but a
game."
"No, it ain't a game!" Sube insisted. "I tell you it's a reg'lar
bus'ness, and there's money in it!"
But Gizzard had been the victim of bitter experience. "If you mean the
trappin' bus'ness," he said, "there's nuthin' in it! I've trapped, and I
_know_!"
"Trappin' bus'ness? Now who said an'thing about the trappin' bus'ness? I
don't mean the trappin' bus'ness at all! I mean the bus'ness of catchin'
stray cats!"
"But you said there was money in it," returned Gizzard with a trace of
disappointment. "Who'd be fool enough to pay for stray cats?"
"P'fessor Silver would!" declared Sube jubilantly.
"Who's P'fessor Silver?"
"He's the ol' guy that's stayin' at M's Rude's. Wears those big round
goggles--you know! Always sneakin' up on bugs and lookin' at 'em
through a magnifyin'-glass."
"What's _he_ p'fessor of?"
"Hobart College!"
"And he'll pay for ol' cats?"
"You're right he will! Fif-ty cents apiece!"
"_Fif-ty_ cents apiece? Aw, what'd he want of ol' cats enough to pay
fif-ty cents for 'em?"
"That is neither here nor there," declared Sube, "so long as he does pay
for 'em."
"S'pose that ol' net'd hold a cat?" questioned Gizzard.
"Would it hold a cat? Would it? Say, boy, that net'd hold a elephant!
But that is neither here nor there, 'cause all we--"
But Sube did not finish what he started to say because of a peculiar
interruption. For Gizzard, feeling that drastic action was necessary to
offset Sube's continued use of his lofty new phrase, walked over and
dealt the net a vicious kick. His foot caught in its tricky meshes and a
quick jerk on Sube's part did the rest. In another instant Gizzard found
himself prostrate on the floor with Sube standing over him yelling:
"You're a tiger or an elephant or some'pm and I'm a native tryin' to
capture you!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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