OCR Text |
Show Came His Way. This is how one of the regular patrons of the auction sales of things seized by the customs officers a hook-nosed man whose specialty Is the collection of curio? got a present of $100 by butting In at a sale In which he had no Interest. There was a lot of the best schnapps put up. The curio collector had strolled Into the auction room, and, having nothing else to do, took a glass of the stuff. He liked It bo well that ho toon more. , A clique; of dealers usually buys, at Its own price, all gobd liquor that Is put up at auction by the customs authorities, au-thorities, and there was a committee of one anxiously viewing the action of the curio collector, Inspired with a fear that he might bid on the schnapps and compel the clique to give up moro than It usually did. The committee went alongside tho hook-nosed man and asked In a whisper whis-per If he Intended to make a bid on It. lie was just smacking his lips over a fifth glass of the gin. He winked knowingly, know-ingly, all his commercial curiosity aroused by the strange manner of the committee, and Intimated that he might do so. The committee thereupon said, with much solemnity, that It would bo to the financial advantage of the curio collector collec-tor If he refrained from bidding. Fifty dollars, the committee said, would bo about tho figure. The curio man rosy to the occasion. He remarked, with an air of a connoisseur, con-noisseur, that the schnapps was of a very superior kind and that he really could not think of letting his chance to acquire a part of It go fori' go small a cum. Then he drank aomemore. The committee came alongside again and suggested seventy-five. The curio man said, "Thash mere bagatellsh!" and surrounded another glass. The commlttc had only a few moro minutes tq strike a bargain and desperately despe-rately murmured: "One hundred." The curio man 3ald, or made an effort to say, 'that under the circumstances, ho would accept, and tho committee suggested that tho payment would bo made after tho Bale. Tho curio man proclaimed that it was a question of cash in hand or he would buy the whole lot of schnappB. The committee. In apparent fright, handed over tho money, and tho curio man, aftor a last draft, departed to tell tho Joko to his frlonas. Chicago Inter Ocea |