it, 'cause he thought de mahket wouldn't buy so many oats. So Mistah Mahkyn, he made money because Mistah Beman held his oats, but his sellin' made dem oats go down and Mistah Beman, he didn' make nothin'. You undahstan'?"
Peewee did not understand, but he comprehended that if he admitted that he might not hear anything more. "Sure," he prevaricated.
"Den long tahme afteh—yeahs afteh—Mistah Beman and Mistah Mahkyn dey comes to be pahtnahs. But Mistah Beman, he didn't neber fohgit 'bout dem oats; he remembahs an' remembahs, an' remembahs. An' Mistah Beman an' Mistah Mahkyn dey stahted out to cohneh wheat. Dey done bought an' bought an' bought till Mistah Mahkyn he done thought dey had all de wheat into a cohneh. But dey wahn't no cohneh, because Mistah Beman he wuz sellin' all de tahme he wuz buyin', but Mistah Mahkyn he didn' know dat. So in de end, Mistah Beman had all de money and Mistah Mahkyn, he wah ruined.
This was not very plain, Peewee thought, but the result was clear: Mr. Markyn had been "broke" and had sat, probably, alone in his of-
