, 1878-01-18
The Merchants Story.

/ Yea, II WIS rather curious start thar
: had in business. The first thing | d;d
after having .aved little nile of mnnsv
WAS TO set up shauty in Sioux Civ
had all sorts Of traps Ia allure Iud,nns
snl wanted To buy any kind Of rel
tries, sc ,lps excepted. But was nev
arrival, and tho noble red man cnuld,,,,
believe in me without help, aud found
trade rather dull. Late one night. how
ever, rs | was sleeping among nv stock
there came Il tremendous btuyinu At nv
door, and when unbarred it, there wns =
tall fellow, who seemed to me A li,,Ia
drunk; and said he, IL want butcher.
knife "All right. Come in," said I
IL want r.liNbIe one" said he. ~
want it to kill man with. Give me ,
good strong handle. want knife that
| can put in, and turn round" SaysI
81 think | can suit you. Walk ia and
take look" knew him by that time
He was Virginian-a splendid looking
fellow--and belonged u good family
as understood, and he had gone wild oa
the frontier, and done great many lille.
gal things and been forced to herd with
the Indians. The consequence was thai
he spoke their language and was a per.
son Of influence among them. We'll
felt little doubtful about his intentions
not knowing hut what WAS the man he
was after but all the same got out INV
stock of tools and showed them. There
WAS one, nearly two feet long, which I
had bought for cheese knife. SAYS |.
81 think this would answer your Dur.
pose" "Yes, l should think it might"
says he. "How much is it2' told him
the price--about four shiilings, think.
"I'lI take it," says he. ''But haven't
any money" Under the circumstances.
seeing he mad the knife in his fist and
was ready to turn it round, thought |
had better offer to trust him. YOU'D
better not" says he. "You don't know
me- from any other gentleman" "But
I've got to trust you," says |. you've
got the butcher-knifc by the handle, and
l'm at the sharp eud Of it. Besides, be-
lieve l eau trust you" OFF he went, and
| heard nD more of him for time, not
even whethePhe had killed man. Bat
some weeks later, he put in an appear
ance and paid for the knife. "And now,
youngster," says he, ~ like the way you
treated me when reused you out for that
trade. You didn't show the white fcath-
err Some men, hustled up at that time
of night, would have been scared. But
you behaved every way like IL gentleman,
and now want to behave to you us one.
There are some Indians coming in to-day
and III bring them to your shanty to
trade. Have you g,t any rumi"
hadn't any rum; didn't 'tkeep it. "Well,"
says be, ''wc must have some rum. No
rum, no lrjun. Give me couple Of dol
lars" gave him the money and he went
of. When he came back he had demi-
john full of drink, and some tumblers.
An hour or 80 later The Indians appeared,
some two hundred Of them. First came
the warriors with their rifles, bows and
tomahawks; then followed the squaws,
STOPPING almost to the ground under their
loads. My man halted them, but they
did not want to trade with me; they
didn't know me. There was long pal
aver, and at last he threatened to kill
some of them if they didn't follow his
friendly advice; and the end of it WAS
that they gave in TO save u aquarrel. They
crowded in my little shop, and drank my
dcmUohn empty, and bought my stock
clean out, and filed me full of peltries.
made S3,500 that season, went of in
high spirits to lose it somewhere else, aud
to pick it up again. AS for the Virginian,
| lost sight of him, and never leaned
how he ended l didn't even inquire
whether he put his butcher-knife in and
turned it around. 1t seemed to me too
delicate q sub hject.--AtIantic Noath!y.
MUssUIMANs AND CHRIsTIANs.--UntH