“Eh?” demanded Mr. Titmouse in some astonishment.

“Naturally, sir,” Dick went on, “before coming here to see you I made a few inquiries in Tottenville.  I discovered that in this vicinity the wagon is something of a joke.”

“What’s that?” questioned the other sharply.  “My camping wagon a joke?  Nothing of the sort.  And, if it is a joke, why did you want to get it?”

“Oh, all of our fellows can stand a joke,” laughed young Prescott “So I came over to see just what terms we could make for the use of your wagon during the month of August.”

“Well, I’ll be as fair with you as I can,” Mr. Titmouse replied.  “From men—–­grown men—–­I would want at least thirty dollars a month for the wagon—–­probably thirty-five.  Of course I know that money is not as plentiful with boys.  I’ll let you have the wagon for the month of August at the bottom price of twenty-five dollars.”

Dick smilingly shook his head.

“I’ve named the best price I could think of taking,” insisted Mr. Titmouse.  “Come into the wagon shed and have another look at it.”

“Thank you, sir, but there is no use in looking at the wagon again, when such a price as twenty-five dollars is asked for a month’s hire,” Dick answered promptly.

“Come inside and look at it again, anyway,” urged Mr. Titmouse.

“Thank you, sir, but I must get back to Gridley at the earliest possible moment.”

“If you didn’t want to hire the wagon,” asked Mr. Titmouse testily, “what was the use of taking up my time?”

“I do want to hire it,” Dick admitted, “but since hearing your price I have realized that I don’t want the wagon half as much as I did at the outset.”

It was notable about Mr. Titmouse that he would gladly talk for three hours in order to gain a dollar’s advantage in any trade in which he was interested.  He was a small man, with small features and very small eyes which, somehow, suggested gimlets.  He bore about with him always an air of injury, as though deeply sensitive over the supposed fact that the whole world was concerned in getting the better of him.

Though Mr. Titmouse had acquired, through sharp dealing, usury and in many other ways a considerable sum of money and property in the course of his life, yet he was not the man to part with any of it needlessly.

The special wagon now resting in the wagon shed at his home place in Tottenville had been designed by him at a time when people all through the state had been much interested in outdoor life.  The Titmouse wagon had been built as the result of much thought on the part of its designer.  It certainly was a handy kind of wagon for campers to use on the road.  Mr. Titmouse had spent four weeks of wandering life, going from point to point and trying to talk up the merits of his wagon.  He had hoped to establish a small factory, there to build such wagons to order at high prices.