"Yees; certingly I remember it--he, he, he! But I kim a better trick then thet on the Orleens people 'bout five yeer ago--jest 'fore I jined the Rangers." "Fwhat was it, shure?" "We--ell, ye see, I wan't allers es poor es I'm now. I hed a pertnership in a bit o' a schooner, es used to trade 'tween Bosting an' Orleens, an' we used to load her wi' all sorts o' notions, to sell to the Orleens folk. Jehosophet an' pork-pies! they air fools, an' no mistake--them Creole French. We ked a sold 'em wooden nutmegs, an' brick-dust for Cayenne pepper, an' such like; an' I 'bout guess es how we did spekoolate a leetle in thet line o' bizness. Wall, there kim a time when they tuk a notion they ked make cheep _brogan_, as they call 'em, out o' allygator's leather, an' supply the hul nigger market wi' 'em. The neels were dear, an' so they tuk to usin' boot-pegs; but not hevin' a manafactry o' the pegs down south, they hed to git 'em from the no'th. Jest then, my pertner an' I thought o' makin' a spekoolashun on the pegs; so we loaded our schooner wi' thet eer freight, chuck right up to the hetches; an' then sot off from Bosting for Orleens. We thort we'd make our derned fortune out thet eer trip." "Shure yez did, didn't ye?" "No-o-o; neer a bit o' 't. It keemd nigh breakin' us." "Arrah, how?" "We-ell! ye see, when we got roun' to Orleens, we learnt that the boot-trade hed a'most stopped. The allygator leather didn't turn out jest the thing for brogans; an' besides, it got sca'ce by reezun o' the killin' o' them verming. In coorse, the pegs hed fell in price; they'd kim down so low, that we ked only git twenty-five cents a bushel for 'em!" "Mother ov Moses! only twenty-five cents a bushel!" "Thet was all they'd fetch--offer 'em when an' wheer we would. In coorse, we wan't fools enough to take thet--the dernationed pegs hed cost us more in Bosting!" "Divil a doubt ov it? But fwhat did yez do wid 'em, anyhow?" "We-ell, Mister Tigg, we weer cleer beat at fust; an' didn't know what to do--neyther me'r my pertner. But arter takin' a good think over it, I seed a way o' gitting out o' the scrape--leestwise 'ithout sech a loss as sellin' the pegs at twenty-five cents the bushel. I seed a chence o' gitting rid o' them at fifty cents." "Arrah, now! in fwhat way, comrade?" "You've seed boot-pegs, I recking, Mister Tigg?" "An' shure I hiv. Aren't they the same that's in these suttlers' brogues we've got on--bad luck to them?" "Jess the same--only whitier when they air new." "Be japers! I think I remimber seein' a barrel full ov thim in New Yark." "Very certing it were them--they air usooaly packed in berr'ls. Can you think o' anything they looked like?" "Wil, in troth, they looked more loike oats than anything I can recollect. Shure they did look moighty like oats!" "An' don't ee kalkerlate they'd a looked more like oats, ef they'd been pointed at both ends instead o' one!" "In troth, would they--all that same."