In the morning of course the only thing we could do was to trade him polish and I began negotiations with him, but in vain. I had polished up two or three pieces of furniture, but neither himself nor his wife seemed to care for it at all, and as we could plainly see were bent on receiving a little pin-money from us. I then polished up another piece of furniture and kept talking it up, perspiring freely, and noticed great drops of perspiration standing out on Frank's forehead. Then I polished more furniture and gave a more elaborate explanation of the merits of the polish, Doctor Frank of course putting in a word now and then. But we had struck a Tartar--in fact, two Tartars. They were as firm as adamant. We were at last cornered and looked at each other as though we had an idea that a private consultation would be the thing to hold about that time. I felt that I would rather forfeit the old horse and wagon than acknowledge that we had no money. I then said: "Mr. ----, is the gentleman living in the second house south of here a responsible and enterprising man?" He answered that he was, and asked why. "Well I have been thinking of making him a General Agent in this County for my polish." The lady of the house then said: "John, why don't you take the agency? you have always wanted to travel." He asked what kind of a show I'd give him. I told him we charged ten dollars for the General Agency for each county and we would supply him with the polish, or he could have the recipe for making it by paying twenty-five dollars. He said he had no money and there was no use talking. I asked how much our bill would be for staying over night. "Two dollars," was his reply. "Very well, then, we can fix the money part. Which do you prefer, the General Agency or the recipe?" He said he wanted the recipe. "You can just give us credit then, for the two dollars and pay us fifty cents in cash and you will owe us twenty-two and one-half dollars which you can pay after you have made it." His wife said that was fair. He said he hadn't the fifty cents, but they would give us a chicken for the difference. As we had been accustomed to trading anything and everything we explained that the fowl was right in our line, and immediately closed the deal and left with it. The reader may be assured that we congratulated ourselves on our narrow escape. The man still owes the balance,--in fact I forgot to leave him my address, so he could send it. We had consumed nearly a half day wrestling with our farmer friend to effect a deal, and immediately started out with renewed vigor and the chicken with its legs securely tied and under the wagon seat. [Illustration] CHAPTER XXVI. HELPING A TRAMP--WE DISSOLVE PARTNERSHIP--MY AUCTION SALE FOR THE FARMER--HOW I SETTLED WITH HIM--I RESUME THE AUCTION BUSINESS FOR MYSELF--MY HORSE TRADE--I START FOR MICHIGAN.