I told him I had it all figured out that I could afford to take one good threshing for every five dead beats, provided I could collect from the other four. [Illustration] CHAPTER XXXIV. ANOTHER HORSE TRADE--A HEAVY LOSS--PLAYING DETECTIVE--MY VISIT HOME--A RETROSPECT--CALLING IN MY AGENTS--A NEW SCHEME--IT'S A WINNER--MR. KEEFER AND MY MOTHER VISIT CHICAGO--HIS VERDICT, "IT DOES BEAT THE DEVIL." We continued to travel by team, and my great stronghold was to collect bad debts, many of which I collected almost by force. [Illustration: TRAVELING BY TANDEM TEAM.--PAGE 624.] On this trip one of our horses became lame, and one morning just as we were ready to start out from the hotel a gentleman came driving up with a fine-looking span of horses, that, although appearing rather green and awkward, made a very handsome and stylish pair. He stopped near our carriage, and I inquired how old his horses were. He said four years. I asked: "How will you trade teams with me?" After looking my horses over carefully, and without leaving his carriage, he replied: "For one hundred and twenty-five dollars to boot." "All right, sir. Here is your money," and I counted it out and handed it over to him. "But what sort of a team are you trading me?" "No matter, sir. You have got your money, so unhitch, and I'll do the same." He hesitated a moment, but when the crowd of men standing by began laughing at him, he commenced to unhitch. Before leaving him I remarked that I had too much business on hand to spend any time with a lame horse, nor did I care to dicker a minute on a horse trade. Ten minutes later we were driving off with a pair of colts that had never been hitched or driven but three times. We finished our business in Northern Michigan, and drove this team home, where I broke them to drive tandem. The following spring I started on the road with my team hitched tandem to a two-wheeled cart with my advertisement on the side and back. A few weeks later I hired a Mr. Rhodes to travel for me, and he took charge of the tandem team and traveled with them. They made a splendid advertisement for my business and it was looked upon by our customers as quite a novel way to travel. I now remained at home and had my hands full looking after the failures that were coming thick and fast. It seemed to me that every other man who failed was owing me. Dr. Frank was still with me and rendered very valuable service in the collection of hard accounts. He had not entirely gotten over his pugilistic propensities, and whenever I found it necessary to instruct him to call on a dead beat and "bring something back with him," he generally returned with a wad of money or a wad of hair.