This plan met with Matt's approval, and he asked what goods Andrew Dilks thought would be the most profitable to take along.
"I have a list here in my pocket," returned the young man, bringing it forth. "You see, it includes fancy articles and statuary, besides cheap watches, table cutlery, spoons, imitation gold rings, such musical instruments as accordions, banjos and violins, albums, razors, whips, and a dozen others. That ought to meet the wants in almost any small town."
"Can you play the musical instruments?" asked Matt.
"I can play the accordion--not very well, but enough to show the instrument off."
"I can play the banjo, and also the harmonica. You had better lay in a stock of mouth harmonicas."
"I certainly will if you can play them. They will sell readily if they are shown off. It is good you can play the banjo. We can play that and the accordion whenever we want to open up, and thus attract a crowd. Some use a bell, but music, even when it is poor, is better. Sometimes I used to sing a comic song or two for old Gulligan when we were on the road, but I didn't much care to do it."
"Gulligan sold lots of what are called 'fake' goods," went on Andrew Dilks. "But my intention is to sell honest goods and sell them for just what they are. We will perhaps not make as much, but people will be better pleased, and they will not want to run us out of town if we ever go back to the same place again."
"I am with you there," said Matt heartily. "I was afraid you might want to palm off a lot of trash for first-class goods and I didn't want to be a party to any such transaction."
They continued to talk the subject over for fully an hour, and by that time both understood each other thoroughly, and had decided, if Matt could raise the necessary cash, to go into the scheme without delay.
"You see, we ought to do all the traveling possible before cold weather sets in," said Andrew Dilks. "It is in the villages where the most money is to be made, especially now, when the farmers are about done harvesting and have some ready cash."
"As I am out of work, I can start the moment I get the money," said Matt. "And even if I don't get that other money, I am willing to put in every cent of what I have now."