and purchased the other in a pawn—in an obscure museum in Vienna. I wish to purchase yours. Name your price.’
“‘Well, the great ice jams, Profess!’ says Scudder. ‘Have you found the other one? Me sell? No. I don’t guess Cornelius Scudder needs to sell anything that he wants to keep. Have you got the carving with you, Profess?’
“I shows it to Scudder. He examines it careful all over.
“‘It’s the article,’ says he. ‘It’s a duplicate of mine, every line and curve of it. Tell you what I’ll do,’ he says. ‘I won’t sell, but I’ll buy. Give you $2,500 for yours.’
“‘Since you won’t sell, I will,’ says I. ‘Large bills, please. I’m a man of few words. I must return to New York to-night. I lecture to-morrow at the aquarium.’
“Scudder sends a check down and the hotel cashes it. He goes off with his piece of antiquity and I hurry back to Andy’s hotel, according to arrangement.
“Andy is walking up and down the room looking at his watch,
“‘Well?’ he says,
“‘Twenty-five hundred,’ says I. ‘Cash.’
135
