THE YOUNG AUCTIONEER.
"I feel like a cat in a strange garret!" exclaimed Matt, as he walked
up and down behind the counter on a raised platform he and Andy had
placed there. "This is like going into cold water an inch at a time. I
would rather plunge in head first."
"Then here goes," cried Andy, catching up an accordion that stood
close at hand. "Let us see what we can do toward drawing a crowd in.
There must be something going on, for the streets are filling up with
people."
"There is a cheap circus to exhibit. I saw the posters. Perhaps they
intend to give a parade."
"Most likely. Get your banjo, Matt, and let us give them our best
selection."
Matt did as requested; and as the music rang out those on the pavement
began to pause, and half a dozen stopped at the open door and peered
in.
"Come right in! Come right in!" shouted Andy. "The auction is now
about to begin, and you don't want to miss the chance of your lives!"
"Plenty of room for everybody!" shouted Matt directly after him. His
voice was a trifle unsteady through excitement. "Don't wait outside,
but secure a good place, where you can hear and see all that is going
on. You need not buy if you do not wish. One more tune, ladies and
gentlemen, and then we will show you the best bargains ever exhibited
in this city. That's right, come right in!"
Thus urged, the folks began to drift in, singly and in pairs, until,
when the next tune was finished, the store held perhaps twenty-five
men, women and boys. Several children had tried to enter, but Andy had
shook his head at them, and thus kept them outside.
"Say, what's them pocket-knives worth?" asked one old man evidently
from the country, as he pointed to a board stuck full of the
glittering blades.
"Which knife, sir?" asked Matt, in a business-like way.
"That one with the buckhorn handle and prunin' blade."
"That sir, is one of our best knives. Well made, of the best steel,
and one that ought to last you a good many years. What do you offer
for it, sir?"
"Offer?" repeated the old man in astonishment.
"Yes, sir, make an offer, please."
"Ain't you got no price sot on it?"
"No, sir; this is an auction store, and we take what we can get for a
thing. Come, make an offer."
"I'll give ye a quarter for it," said the old man after considerable
hesitation.
"A quarter I am offered for this beautiful knife!" shouted Matt,
taking up the blade and holding it up so that all might see it. "It is
a knife with four strong blades, a buckhorn handle, well riveted, and
extra-tempered springs, fully warranted. A quarter, ladies and
gentlemen; who says thirty cents?"
"Thirty!" returned a young man, after an examination of the knife.
"Thirty cents I am offered. Thirty! thirty! Some one make it
thirty-five----"
"Thirty-five cents!" put in the old countryman. "I guess that knife is
wuth that to me."
"Forty!" said the young man promptly. He appeared to be rich, and was
bidding more to tease the old countryman than because he desired the
knife.
[Illustration: THE YOUNG AUCTIONEERS AT WORK. Y. A.]
"Forty I am offered!" sang out Matt, who did not care who obtained
the knife, so long as a good figure was reached. "Forty! forty! Come,
gentlemen, a bit higher than that, please!"
"Forty-five cents, and that's more than a good price," grumbled the
old countryman, who had, however, set his heart on the knife the
moment he had first seen it.
"Half a dollar!" sang out the young man promptly.
"Fifty cents I am offered!" went on Matt, in a business-like way.
"Fifty cents, gentlemen, for a knife that ought to be in every one's
pocket--a knife worth having! Who says seventy-five!"
Matt knew very well that no one in the crowd would make such a jump,
but he hoped to cause the old man to bid again, and his hope was
realized. Instead of going to fifty-five, the countryman offered sixty
cents.
He had hardly made the offer when the young man, thinking he had
aroused the old man to a state of recklessness in which he would keep
on bidding, offered seventy-five cents for the knife.
"Seventy-five cents I am offered!" cried Matt. "Who makes it a
dollar--ninety--eight-five--eighty?" and he glanced inquiringly at the
old countryman.
But the old man shook his head.
"Not a penny over seventy-five cents," he muttered in a low tone.
"Seventy-five!" went on Matt. "Come, now, raise it just a bit! The
knife is really worth it. Who says eighty? Seventy-five-five-five!
Last call, remember! Going, going--gone! to that young man for
seventy-five cents!"
And Matt held out the knife to the last bidder, and motioned to Andy
to collect the money.
The young man grew red and drew back.
"Oh, pshaw! I didn't want the knife!" he grumbled. "Put it up again,
maybe you'll get a bigger price for it," and he began to edge his way
toward the door.
"Hold on! Not so fast!" said Andy, in a low voice, as he caught him by
the arm. "This company doesn't do business that way. If you did not
wish the knife you should not have bid for it. We are not running this
store for fun."
The young man looked at him impudently. But the clear, stern eyes of
Matt's partner made him wilt, and muttering something under his breath
about getting square, he paid over the amount, took the knife, and
sneaked out of the now crowded store.
In the meantime, the old countryman was about to leave, disappointed
over his failure to secure the prize he coveted. He wished just such
a knife, and knew that he would have to pay a dollar or more at the
hardware store for it.
"Wait a minute, please," said Matt to him. "I have another such a
knife. If you wish it you can have it at the same figure that the
young man paid."
"Let's look at the knife."
The countryman made a careful examination of the blade, and finally
agreed to take it.
"I'll send my son Tom around for an accordion," he said, before
leaving. "He's dead stuck on music, Tom is."
"Thank you, we shall be pleased to see him," returned Matt politely,
and the old countryman went off much pleased over the way he had been
treated.
At a word from Andy, Matt brought the entire board of knives out so
that all might examine them.
"Seventy-five cents was the auction price," he explained. "So any one
can step up and take his or her choice for that amount. They are well
worth your inspection. Any of the knives will stick, but you can't get
stuck on a single one of them."
This little joke made the crowd laugh, and a dozen or more pressed
forward to look at the knives. One young man bought a pearl-handled
article, and a young lady bought one which contained a lead pencil and
a button-hook.
While Matt was making these sales Andy was busy showing off the merits
of several articles of bric-a-brac which a bevy of ladies were
admiring. He told them how he had obtained them at a sacrifice sale,
and was thus enabled to sell them quite reasonable. The lady who led
the party did not wish to bid on the articles at auction, so Andy very
obligingly set a figure, and after some little haggling, the lady took
three dollars' worth of goods, to be delivered at her house on the
outskirts of the city.
By this time both of the young auctioneers were certain that they were
going to have a good day's sales.
"That circus has brought the people out," whispered Andy to Matt. "We
were very fortunate to strike here when we did. We must make the most
of the day."
"What shall I try next?" asked Matt. "I have sold four of the
knives."
"Try something small, for they won't want to carry bulky packages with
them. I see there are a lot of young fellows drifting in. You might
get out the mouth harmonicas and interest them in them. I'll show
those ladies the jewelry, and try to make some more private sales."
To this Matt agreed, and he was soon playing a lively air that caused
all of the young men and boys to gather around him.
"Any one can play if he has music in him and such an instrument as
this in his possession," he argued, after he had finished. "To show
that it is all right and in perfect tune, I will put up the one I have
been playing upon. How much am I offered?"
"Ten cents!" cried a boy standing close at hand.
"Ten cents I am offered. Ten ce----"
Matt got no farther, for at that moment a loud cry upon the street
drowned out every other sound.
"Look out for the bear! He is mad!"
"He is coming this way!"
"Scatter for your lives!"
These and a hundred other cries rent the air. Then came a crash of
window glass, and the next moment a huge brown bear leaped into the
show window, not over two yards away from where Matt was standing.