"Fishermen use nets; but that is neither here nor there. I'll tell you another--"
"I'm goin' home," muttered Gizzard, beginning to feel that he was entirely outclassed.
"Don't you want to be in the new bus'ness?" asked Sube in astonishment.
"Not unless I know what it is," murmured Gizzard as he tarried in the doorway.
"Why, it's catchin' wild animals!" shouted Sube in his enthusiasm. "We'll tangle 'em up in the net so's they can't get away and then we'll shut 'em up in cages and sell 'em!"
"That ain't a bus'ness," growled Gizzard sullenly; "it's nuthin' but a game."
"No, it ain't a game!" Sube insisted. "I tell you it's a reg'lar bus'ness, and there's money in it!"
But Gizzard had been the victim of bitter experience. "If you mean the trappin' bus'ness," he said, "there's nuthin' in it! I've trapped, and I _know_!"
"Trappin' bus'ness? Now who said an'thing about the trappin' bus'ness? I don't mean the trappin' bus'ness at all! I mean the bus'ness of catchin' stray cats!"
"But you said there was money in it," returned Gizzard with a trace of disappointment. "Who'd be fool enough to pay for stray cats?"
"P'fessor Silver would!" declared Sube jubilantly.
"He's the ol' guy that's stayin' at M's Rude's. Wears those big round goggles--you know! Always sneakin' up on bugs and lookin' at 'em through a magnifyin'-glass."
"You're right he will! Fif-ty cents apiece!"
"_Fif-ty_ cents apiece? Aw, what'd he want of ol' cats enough to pay fif-ty cents for 'em?"
"That is neither here nor there," declared Sube, "so long as he does pay for 'em."
"S'pose that ol' net'd hold a cat?" questioned Gizzard.
"Would it hold a cat? Would it? Say, boy, that net'd hold a elephant! But that is neither here nor there, 'cause all we--"
But Sube did not finish what he started to say because of a peculiar interruption. For Gizzard, feeling that drastic action was necessary to offset Sube's continued use of his lofty new phrase, walked over and dealt the net a vicious kick. His foot caught in its tricky meshes and a quick jerk on Sube's part did the rest. In another instant Gizzard found himself prostrate on the floor with Sube standing over him yelling:
"You're a tiger or an elephant or some'pm and I'm a native tryin' to capture you!"