LITTLE HAL’S RICHES 285

deafness, you see. Come now. Here are the twenty dol-
lars all ready for you.”

“Make me deaf!” shouted Hal, without even looking at
the money temptingly displayed upon the table. “I guess
you won’t do that either. Why, I could n’t hear a word
if I was deaf, could I?”

“ Probably not,” replied Uncle Ben, dryly. So, of course,
Hal refused again. He would never give up his hearing,
he said,—“ No, not for three thousand dollars !”

Uncle Ben made another note in his book, and then
came out with prodigious bids for Hal’s “voice,” for his
“right arm,” then “left arm,” “hands,” “just one leg,” “ feet,”
and so on, finally ending with an offer of ten thousand dol-
lars for “ Mother” and five thousand for “the baby.”

To all of these offers, however, Hal shook his head, his
eyes flashing, and exclamations of surprise and indiena-
tion bursting from his lips. At last Uncle Ben said he
must give up his experiments, for the young man’s prices
were entirely too high.

“Ha-ha!” laughed Hal exultinely, and he folded his
arms and looked as if to say,“I’d like to see the man
who could pay them!”

“Why, Hal, look at this!” exclaimed Uncle Ben, peering
into his note-book, “here is a big addition sum ; come, help
me do it.”

Hal looked into the book, and there, surely enough, were
aul the figures. Uncle Ben read the list aloud :

“ Kyes, $5000; ears, $3000; voice, $2000; right arm,
$4000; left arm, $4000; hands, $2000; one leg, $4000;
feet, $3000; Mother, $10,000; Baby, $5000.”