throw out your spare leg, and let ’em chaw, let ’em fool with that as much as they’re a mind to, and howl and carry on, for you don’t care.  An’ that’s the reason why I say that when I reflect on how imposing you’d be as the owner of such a leg I feel like saying that if you insist on offering only a dollar and a half for it, why, take it; it’s yours.  I’m not the kinder man to stand on trifles.  I’ll take it off and wrap it up in paper for you; shall I?”

“I’m sorry,” said Brown, “but the fact is I have no use for it.  I’ve got two good legs already.  If I ever lose one, why, maybe then I’ll—­”

“I don’t think you exactly catch my idea on the subject,” said the stranger.  “Now, any man kin have a meat-and-muscle leg; they’re as common as dirt.  It’s disgusting how monotonous people are about such things.  But I take you for a man who wants to be original.  You have style about you.  You go it alone, as it were.  Now, if I had your peculiarities, do you know what I’d do?  I’d get a leg snatched off some way, so’s I could walk around on this one.  Or if you hate to go to the expense of amputation, why not get your pantaloons altered and mount this beautiful work of art just as you stand?  A centipede, a mere ridicklous insect, has half a bushel of legs, and why can’t a man, the grandest creature on earth, own three?  You go around this community on three legs, and your fortune’s made.  People will go wild over you as the three-legged grocer; the nation will glory in you; Europe will hear of you; you will be heard of from pole to pole.  It’ll build up your business.  People’ll flock from everywheres to see you, and you’ll make your sugar and cheese and things fairly hum.  Look at it as an advertisement!  Look at it any way you please, and there’s money in it—­there’s glory, there’s immortality.  I think I see you now moving around over this floor with your old legs working as usual, and this one going clickety-click along with ’em, making music for you all the time and attracting attention in a way to fill a man’s heart with rapture.  Now, look at it that way; and if it strikes you, I tell you what I’ll do:  I’ll actually swap that imperishable leg off to you for two pounds of water-crackers and a tin cup full of Jamaica rum.  Is it ago?”

Then Brown weighed out the crackers, gave him an awful drink of rum, and told him if he would take them as a present and quit he would confer a favor.  And he did.  After emptying the crackers in his pockets and smacking his lips over the rum, he went to the door, and as he opened it he said,

“Good-bye.  But if you ever really do want a leg, Old Reliable is ready for you; it’s yours.  I consider that you’ve got a mortgage on it, and you kin foreclose at any time.  I dedicate this leg to you.  My will shall mention it; and if you don’t need it when I die, I’m going to have it put in the savings’ bank to draw interest until you check it out.  I’ll bid you good-evening.”