"Yes, sir, make an offer, please."

"Ain't you got no price sot on it?"

"No, sir; this is an auction store, and we take what we can get for a thing. Come, make an offer."

"I'll give ye a quarter for it," said the old man after considerable hesitation.

"A quarter I am offered for this beautiful knife!" shouted Matt, taking up the blade and holding it up so that all might see it. "It is a knife with four strong blades, a buckhorn handle, well riveted, and extra-tempered springs, fully warranted. A quarter, ladies and gentlemen; who says thirty cents?"

"Thirty!" returned a young man, after an examination of the knife.

"Thirty cents I am offered. Thirty! thirty! Some one make it thirty-five----"

"Thirty-five cents!" put in the old countryman. "I guess that knife is wuth that to me."

"Forty!" said the young man promptly. He appeared to be rich, and was bidding more to tease the old countryman than because he desired the knife.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE YOUNG AUCTIONEERS AT WORK. Y. A.]

"Forty I am offered!" sang out Matt, who did not care who obtained the knife, so long as a good figure was reached. "Forty! forty! Come, gentlemen, a bit higher than that, please!"

"Forty-five cents, and that's more than a good price," grumbled the old countryman, who had, however, set his heart on the knife the moment he had first seen it.

"Half a dollar!" sang out the young man promptly.

"Fifty cents I am offered!" went on Matt, in a business-like way.

"Fifty cents, gentlemen, for a knife that ought to be in every one's pocket--a knife worth having! Who says seventy-five!"

Matt knew very well that no one in the crowd would make such a jump, but he hoped to cause the old man to bid again, and his hope was realized. Instead of going to fifty-five, the countryman offered sixty cents.

He had hardly made the offer when the young man, thinking he had aroused the old man to a state of recklessness in which he would keep on bidding, offered seventy-five cents for the knife.

"Seventy-five cents I am offered!" cried Matt. "Who makes it a dollar--ninety--eight-five--eighty?" and he glanced inquiringly at the old countryman.

But the old man shook his head.

"Not a penny over seventy-five cents," he muttered in a low tone.

"Seventy-five!" went on Matt. "Come, now, raise it just a bit! The knife is really worth it. Who says eighty? Seventy-five-five-five!

Last call, remember! Going, going--gone! to that young man for seventy-five cents!"

And Matt held out the knife to the last bidder, and motioned to Andy to collect the money.

The young man grew red and drew back.

"Oh, pshaw! I didn't want the knife!" he grumbled. "Put it up again, maybe you'll get a bigger price for it," and he began to edge his way toward the door.

"Hold on! Not so fast!" said Andy, in a low voice, as he caught him by the arm. "This company doesn't do business that way. If you did not wish the knife you should not have bid for it. We are not running this store for fun."

The young man looked at him impudently. But the clear, stern eyes of Matt's partner made him wilt, and muttering something under his breath about getting square, he paid over the amount, took the knife, and sneaked out of the now crowded store.

In the meantime, the old countryman was about to leave, disappointed over his failure to secure the prize he coveted. He wished just such a knife, and knew that he would have to pay a dollar or more at the hardware store for it.

"Wait a minute, please," said Matt to him. "I have another such a knife. If you wish it you can have it at the same figure that the young man paid."

"Let's look at the knife."

The countryman made a careful examination of the blade, and finally agreed to take it.

"I'll send my son Tom around for an accordion," he said, before leaving. "He's dead stuck on music, Tom is."

"Thank you, we shall be pleased to see him," returned Matt politely, and the old countryman went off much pleased over the way he had been treated.

At a word from Andy, Matt brought the entire board of knives out so that all might examine them.

"Seventy-five cents was the auction price," he explained. "So any one can step up and take his or her choice for that amount. They are well worth your inspection. Any of the knives will stick, but you can't get stuck on a single one of them."

This little joke made the crowd laugh, and a dozen or more pressed forward to look at the knives. One young man bought a pearl-handled article, and a young lady bought one which contained a lead pencil and a b.u.t.ton-hook.

While Matt was making these sales Andy was busy showing off the merits of several articles of bric-a-brac which a bevy of ladies were admiring. He told them how he had obtained them at a sacrifice sale, and was thus enabled to sell them quite reasonable. The lady who led the party did not wish to bid on the articles at auction, so Andy very obligingly set a figure, and after some little haggling, the lady took three dollars' worth of goods, to be delivered at her house on the outskirts of the city.

By this time both of the young auctioneers were certain that they were going to have a good day's sales.

"That circus has brought the people out," whispered Andy to Matt. "We were very fortunate to strike here when we did. We must make the most of the day."

"What shall I try next?" asked Matt. "I have sold four of the knives."

"Try something small, for they won't want to carry bulky packages with them. I see there are a lot of young fellows drifting in. You might get out the mouth harmonicas and interest them in them. I'll show those ladies the jewelry, and try to make some more private sales."

To this Matt agreed, and he was soon playing a lively air that caused all of the young men and boys to gather around him.

"Any one can play if he has music in him and such an instrument as this in his possession," he argued, after he had finished. "To show that it is all right and in perfect tune, I will put up the one I have been playing upon. How much am I offered?"

"Ten cents!" cried a boy standing close at hand.

"Ten cents I am offered. Ten ce----"

Matt got no farther, for at that moment a loud cry upon the street drowned out every other sound.

"Look out for the bear! He is mad!"

"He is coming this way!"

"Scatter for your lives!"

These and a hundred other cries rent the air. Then came a crash of window gla.s.s, and the next moment a huge brown bear leaped into the show window, not over two yards away from where Matt was standing.