“Didn’t you get your case?” he asked.

 

“Yes. The two books are sold, and I want to deliver them.”

 

“Good for you. You haven’t wasted any time, I see.”

 

Joel Perkins looked the two books over and then Frank had them wrapped up. With something like a sigh the countryman paid over the six dollars.

 

“It’s a mountain o’ money fer jest two books,” he said. “But I like you, an’ I guess it’s all right.”

 

Frank saw him to the corner of the street, and directed him to the Brooklyn Bridge, and so they parted. Then the young book agent hurried back to Philip Vincent’s store.

 

“Let me congratulate you on your first sale,” said Mr. Vincent, who had heard of the occurrence through the clerk. “I see you have lost no time. I think you’ll make a success of it.”

 

“I’m sure I will,” said Frank. “And, Mr. Vincent, I want to take along four copies of the health book and four copies of the cattle book. They won’t weigh much and I may be able to sell them on the spot, as they say, where folks won’t wait several days or a week for delivery.”

 

“That is a good plan. Some folks get out of the notion of buying books if you keep them waiting too long for the volumes.”

 

“I’ll pay you for the books I’ve sold and also for those I wish to take along,” added Frank.

 

“You can pay for what you’ve sold, Frank; the balance I’ll trust you for,” said the book publisher, and so it was settled.

 

Having made his first sale, the young book agent was anxious to continue, and so he concluded to take the first train he could get for Bardon, a village on the railroad, three miles from Claster. With his case in one hand and his extra books in the other, he hurried to the ferry, and was soon on the train.

 

“I certainly can’t complain of the start I’ve made,” he told himself. “My commission on the two books is a dollar and a half. If I sell four books a day I’ll be making three dollars, and three dollars a day is eighteen dollars a week. That is more than many a man earns. But perhaps I won’t be able to sell so many books. Yet I’m going to try my best.”

 

It was a ride of nearly two hours to Bardon, and the young book agent spent the time in studying the books he wanted to sell, and also in reading over the hints to agents and the other pamphlets furnished him. He was naturally quick to grasp anything new, and by the time he had finished he felt himself able to talk intelligently about all of his

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