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We put the chest in the corner of the trade-room, and made a little nest for Bo among the mats she had brought with her; and leaving her to tidy up the monkey with my hair-brush, the Beautiful Man and I retreated to the cabin to conclude the terms of our contract. To my surprise, he handed me a sheet of paper, made out in all appearance like any bill for merchandise, and asked me, with the most brazen assurance, to kindly settle it at my convenience. This was what I read:

W. J. Logan, Dr., to Henery Hinton: 1 Young Woman, cut price $25.00 1 Superior Congo Monkey 7.50 1 Choice Imported Parrot 4.50 1 Chest Fancy Female Wearing Apparel 40.00 7 Extra-size Special Kingsmill Mats 5.00 5 lbs. Best Assorted Beads 2.50 ——— Total $84.50

I burst out into a roar of laughter, and without any waste of words I told the Beautiful Man that he might carry the lady ashore again and peddle her to some bigger fool than I, for I was clean sick of him and her and the whole business, and though I still felt bound to give the twenty-five dollars I had originally promised, he might go and whistle for one cent more. Then, boiling over at the thought of his greed and heartlessness, I let out at him without restraint, he trying to stem the tide with “Oh, I s’y!” and “My word, Mr. Logan, sir!” until at last I had to pause for mere lack of breath and expletives. He took this opportunity to enter into a prolonged explanation, quavering for my pardon at every second word, while he expatiated on the value of that monkey and the parrot’s really phenomenal knowledge of the Pingalap language. He was willing, seeing that I took the matter in such a w’y, to pass over the girl’s duds (about which there might be some question) and even give w’y about the mats, w’ich, as Gord saw him, had cost eight dollars, Chile money, as he could prove by Captain Coffin of the Cape Horn Pigeon, now w’aling in the Arctic Seas; but as to the parrot and the monkey, he appealed to me, as between man and man, to settle for them out of hand, as they were truly and absolutely his own, and could not be expected to be lumped in with the price of the girl. I grew so sick of the fellow and his whining importunity that I counted out thirty-seven dollars from my bag, and told him to take or leave them and give me a clean receipt. This he did with the greatest good humour, having the audacity to shake my hand at parting, and make a little speech wishing me all manner of prosperity and success.