| Show he had a message for the don hi dalgo tiber us IB and I 1 met at the pier the circus boss just returned from england and before the cab had landed us at the broadway office we had consented to engineer a brand new deal twofold in its incentive first we were to escort a slap bang an imal show around the southwestern circuit penetrating the home 0 the frijoles tri joles and tortillas and wrench from the childish grasp of the azteca enough crude silver to pay ex benses we were to go to chuhua bua and possibly farther secondly we were to pick up a troupe of bull fighters and Mazeppa like dons for a big wild west show the latter was the real object only we wished to in vade the firesides of the Monte in an off handed manner with our mission slightly disguised well everything went along in the nit of dull routine until after we left el paso then the curiosity of the who form one halt of the population 0 old mexico and who bv the way are in a state of slavery but sightly removed from the condit loi s titter the spanish mayflower tripped into the coast began to furnish us with annoyance however we had been chamber maids too long to such outfits as our show to be bothered extensively and although pestered we retained our health and several colonies of fleas and had exhausted chihuahua and were about to close with a tempting offer to show for the winter in dexl city when a sun kissed peon with a large quantity of con cealey about his person came to our show tent and tried to bite his way by the rotund vermont man without crossing our palms with silver that largely metaphor as we let them in for what they had except the alcalde who entered deadhead take what you can was our motto but the halt breed forestalled a shake down by e pla ining in badly fractured english that he had a message tor don so tiberto which lie would only de liver in return for a front seat it was written by an americano he said who was in buelta an adjacent town we yanked him within the portals and placed him perilously near the hyenas cage and then received th note I 1 could see tib was worked up over the contents for his round face was drawn down in four curves as he digested it too bad billy he said in a whisper and one of them worked in vermont once poor devil I 1 sighed for I 1 knew my irrelevant remark would make him mad certainly it s poor devil when a white man fresh from that blessed state is in this plight he snapped his brown eyes becoming two points here read it seems there were four poor devils all americans they were to buelta the letter said waiting to be sent to the salt mines for life now a man who knows mexico would rent the salt mines out to his dearest eap my and live in hades if he owned both the letter was a brief one the writer merely stating his prospects and saying he had heard from his guards of smith s presence in chuhua hua he begged tiberius to rescue him if he had any love for the children of the star spangled banner tib knew spanish more or less chiefly less but be a gilt headed cane that loudd make up the difference in effect on the average al calde and a quick trot to the halls of justice gave him an to the situation it reemt murphy the kilter and bis friend had been fool 1st enough to hire ot aa a train crew on the central and that their train near buelta had run over a big bug s hired man now the average peon after absorbing all the visible supply of aguardiente agu ardiente will hunt all over the madjor the most outre place in which to sleep off his alice blue rabbits and nothing appeals to his sordid tion so much as a busy railroad track when it comes to trundle beds but while the united states lines yearly cause the battle of gettysburg to blush when it comes to boasting of carnage our little brunette brother beyond the hio grande has a way of making it uncomfortable for train crews when a a simple life is crushed out it because a peon is highly prized as a bit of social anc a brae but because I 1 reckon the train crews are usually made up of or bossed by americans the alcalde admitted the defend ants had no course to choose except to run over the man but he added with a graceful flirt of his hands the man is dead what would you havea the lesson must be taught he also said that the three judges who sat on the case at first were of the inclima tion to let a line of barefooted riflemen toy with the quartet behind a dobe wall but he concluded we are merciful we are merciful after kicking the hyena to stop his howling tib sac down by the bear cage that night and thought steady for ten minutes then he jolted his hat over his right ear and I 1 began to realize we were about to become fair and merry knight billy he declared I 1 could nevel paint polka dots on a greyhound and beliet e he was a leopard it I 1 left those men to go to the country of saline pursuits once we can get them out of buelta its a quick dash to the rio and farewell to the dons of the blue pacific that was his poetry whenever he was stung into radical action he al ways talked in circus type but he had a scheme back of it all that caused my sapphire eyes to bulge out and touch the walls of the tent I 1 asked him if we were to invade a lunatic asylum that we must indulge in such opera gouffe I 1 even doubted phy and his friends would submit to being rescued by such legerdemain ive thought it all over and it our only way replied tib the rela alves of the decedent would go without firewater a week if those sons of uncle sam would only escape into the open and give the bereaved family a chance to shoot them up why look they are doing real work out of doors and I 1 dont doubt but what their guards are yearning for them to make a break for liberty if they did they would never get ten miles from buelta so my way Is the only way my bosom the only haven of refuge the upshot of it all was I 1 hustled back to el pao where we bad som green room effects of a new opera stored and as fleet tooted as possible I 1 hiked back to chihuahua nied by two big trunks meanwhile tib had sent our bill poster to buelta to hang up a few valentines advertis ad vertio ing the coming of the show and inci dentally to slip into murphy s hand a note of minute this done tib tried to get me to go north and sit on the farther bank of the rio and await the last curtain 0 course I 1 gasn wasn t tor that and he blessed me and said we would proba bay wind up as salt miners then he directed me to throw some hardware and cartridges into the cages and on saturday morning with two closed animal wagons we started tor buelta we had one man who could drive chain lightning let alone the most erratic mexican mule and best of all we could trust him he had lived in mexico for years but had never for gotten he came from the land of great ness and graft he led the way while tib and I 1 did the brake act on the second tally ho the rest of the show we left at chihuahua it took us a day to cover the short over their rotten roads but at last we arrived at buelta amid a toltec buzz of excitement and pitched the side show tent as if preparing tor the sunday performance my plans are built like a watch and if it don t happen in five ive missed fire groaned tib as we unlocked the covers to the carts then it happened first we heard a yell then halt a dozen champagne bottles opened in quick succession and the little chapel bell began dingdong ing excitedly next with fierce panting tour men burst through the chaparral that came up to the rear of our tent and plunged inside the white walls I 1 had just time to notice they were haggard and unkempt and then in a second the wooden covers were down to allow them to enter the cages and then snapped back in place again im afraid billy declared tib calmly as he began sorting out some posters that the rest of the show on t arrive in time tor to morrow performance just as he said this a bevy of all lagers headed by our trusty driver colllns burst through the canvas yelling and brandishing carbines and other impedimenta four men escaped from the sol diers mr smith and I 1 told the guards I 1 thought they came this way panted collins with an expressive wink what roared tib in spanish law breakers escaped free passes to the brave men who capture em I 1 relieve they did pass this way behind the tent in the brush I 1 heard a crashing and thought it was a mule my lion growled fiercely hark he is growling now the gang paused in running away to hear the growl and tiberius stand ing near murphy s cage hissed growl you villain growl and thereat a most blood chilling roar came from murphy s den and the others to make sure began to throw pump on the air pockets we dropped the covers to get the tout ensemble tib snapped the barricades in place in a jiffy and said stiffly I 1 never give a performance unless I 1 1 ave all my animals these are but the advance wagons and tent the others do not arrive I 1 cannot exhibit but senor I 1 have tickets I 1 have invited my friends As alcalde I 1 shall command you to exhibit to morrow to prove you are not a humbug cried the intruder that comes of profanity mur phy groaned tib after the alcalde left us I 1 brought these suits along as a safeguard so that it anyone should get a peep the fleeting glance would not arouse suspicion now hang it all we ve got to give a performance to placate the ma or for it we don t we can never leave town so bouve got to learn your wild wood lessons my lads then the unthankful beasts began to protest and murphy and reynolds wanted to be the tiger and sleep but swore hed claw the lining out of anyone that disturbed his feline ease berhe the bear know what kind of a nole to make and it took tib ten minutes to teach him to say woof in a manner then we took each one in turn and gave the key and made him practice his call of the wild so there would be some individuality then we waited for the mayor BY ALL THE SAINTS IT SOUNDED AS THOUGH HE in a series of ells that would cause a bowery gallery god to go home and through sheer envy take lessons the clovd fell back in a wave it simply swept em off their feet sir to cap the climax colllns cried don t let em get excited mr smith remember the three men mauled to death in el pa so after they d gone tib turned to me and grinned I 1 think we 11 win the trick and that colllns a jewel now each cage was divided by a grating of bars and in ec ch cos nook was one of the comic opera suits I 1 d brought from el paso in de signing these animal make ups tib had made use of air chambers so that when a man got tucked into one and the bicycle had been agitated for padding you had a real life like beast with muscles standing out like barnacles on a forgotten dredge of course at the best it was a fierce counterfeit and when the quadruped forgot and stood on his hind legs the effect was simply stupendous first tib ordered murphy to slip into the lion s pelt and murphy was mad he said he was irish and would pose as a harp but never as an emblem of merry england tib talked to him like a hired man to a sick horse and at last the metamorphosis was et fectea then the others were transformed into a black bear a tiger and a hyena respectively after they had struggled into their masquerades and tib had used the I 1 can t see in the bloody thing growled the lion as the party swept inside fear them not senoa and senor atas for though they rage and writhe in anger they know their masters voice look out burke pull in your left leg the last in english they never dream of incurring my dis pleasure nero here your excel lency ate three men and two women before he was brought low in captin ity and has added a choice collection of thumbs and fingers to the total since then the villagers near his wild free home called him ah ghee dah which being interpreted means hewko eats men gladly growl murph ah not so loud even a lion has limitations and the sound of the irishman baing freedom with a series of bull like bellows swept by me and caused the chocolate populace without to shudder now we come to the hyena the most treacherous of all beasts con tinned tib skillfully drawing the spec gators away from murphy s cage as that animal I 1 observed with horror tried to scratch his left shoulder blade with a most like contor alon his record was kept for three years by my head trainer as to the number of d gits he has chewed off then the task was given up because of ats monotony so not too near senors and not too near see him show his teeth in vain show your teeth reynolds repining for his native lair ote his antipathy to nero the monarch of the abyssinian wild for he hates and dreads bis roar roar murph but nero in desperation to escape a flea began to clamber to bis hind legs and tib saw the move just in time to jump to the bars and smite him on the nose damn ye mumbled nero by all the saints it sounded as though he spoke gasped a little dried up senorita ahem his long association with men has given his hoarse growl and almost human quality said tib his face going a bit white or maybe it s because of the men he has eaten down you devil down he cried jumping to the hyena s cage and striking him with his cane to distract their attention reynolds was lying quiescent at the time and at the blow promptly raised his head in amaze ment snarl hissed tib in english and reynolds made good with a long drawn hoot that sounded like a barn owl suffering from diphtheria these idiots will see their finish yet billy cried tib to me in disgust its them to the salty brine all right I 1 guess ahls caused the quartet to overdo it as they attempted to cinch freedom by cunning acting hone of them had ever read nature stories however and only tib s ready cane and warning back back not too near saved the day where I 1 can approach with impunity he explained turning easily to the alcalde you would feel their cruel fangs ah bite would youa this to the bear who was lying pel factly quiet and tib gave him a poke that brought a cloud of dust from his flanks whereat he raised his paw to straighten his head that now was at right angles with all the laws of na ture behold the lion about to spring shrieked tib thrusting into the ribs of the king of the forest and thus bringing him into a more reasonable posture fer th love iv gh spoke and snarled murphy in his rich brogue wonderful gasped the alcalde and his followers but I 1 never heard a lion use such a delightful irish accent before or since in giving his howl of rage now we come to the royal ben gal tiger bought by me from the sul tan of skowhegan Skow hegan tor 10 rattled tib rapidly drawing his auditors to the second bin to his horror hp found the royal stretched out on his stomach legs straight behind while the head turned upside down stared complacently at the top of the cage notice the wonderful elasticity of his neck and snap tib had reachel in and turned the head piece into place it simply swept em off their feet sir it need a naturalist sharp to detect that the tiger was ab normal in some respects thanks mate growled the dust but the lion and the hyena prompt ly came to the rescue and drowned the visitors exclamation of wonder in a series of prolonged yells that put crimps in my tympanums even out at the entrance ah he purrs senors he purrs purr at last he Is in good humor cried tib then in sotto english group your legs yo i would be suicide cluster yourself it s no use billy cried tib to me I 1 would have saved them if I 1 could but they wont have it so and all the time he was pointing dramatically at the bear kindly throw something at murph he s about to stand up I 1 tossed a tent peg that dian didn t do the harp a bit of good and his muttered curse was only drowned by tib s ad dressing the bear well sir it was the most sweaty 15 minutes I 1 ever put in ou see if the game was discovered we were in as bad a box as the fugitives and v hen the sightseers began to file out I 1 felt as limp as a rag I 1 shall come again when the whole menagerie is here declared the al calde on leaving |
