"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
