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Show I CAGE :D. I By Courtney Ryley Cooper Copyrlsht br Courtnef ByUy Cooper ' (WNTJ Stt1c. company, so I thought rl take a run out of town for a day. I'm glad I did now." Then he quickly fenced. "A fellow doesn't get a chance to meet up with an Iorlo every day." "A what?" asked the girl. "This kind of a professional accordion. ac-cordion. Know much about accordions?" accor-dions?" "I'm afraid not." the girl confessed con-fessed and came closer. "You see. Uncle Dan Mr. Daytoa you know" "Oh, lie'i your uncle?" asked Joe Barry, somewhat awed. "Yea. I'm Sue Dayton." She smiled at the Impressed look In his eyes. "My father and Uncle Dan wore partners, until Dad died Uncle Dan really reared me In the ring; Dad always looked after the business end of the show." "I see." In fact, Joe Carry had paid little attention. Now with quick fingering, he drew a soft mel- that he was wealthy and free I Free from the querulous demands of that dirty lodging house on Third avenue, from the Invectives of Louie, the uncomplimentary remarks re-marks of Fullhouse and the apathy of clnors, gobbling their spaghetti. Best, of all, he was free from fenr, that gnawing sense of the ominous which every country boy has In New York, fear of traffic, fear of the noise, fear of the frlend-Ipssness frlend-Ipssness and coldness, fear of actual actu-al hunger when a Job has departed and days lapse before a fellow can tumble Into another one. tiy noon, Joe had done many things. He had traveled some eighty miles from New York, Into Pennsylvania. He had opened two savings account of four hundred dollars each, told his first lies and given his first alias; something which he had found extremely easy to accomplish. They had not questioned ques-tioned his adopted name of Joseph Bradley and his address of Oreat Bend, Kan. Ills general air of tin-sophistication tin-sophistication had looked after that; both banks had merely drawn a line through the section of the new account rard calling for references. ref-erences. Then be bad asked Innocently: Inno-cently: "Cant I just leave this book with you? I'll be away, and a friend of mine Is going to make some deposits de-posits to my credit" After that, he bad gone forth to the spending of a part of bis remaining re-maining two hundred dollars. There was the barber shop, from Its bath to a shampoo and a massage. Then came a clothing store. At last, everything else purchased, a new Joe Barry, well-dressed, well groomed, alert, the hard lines gone from the corners of his Hps, paused In the fitting of a new hat "I thought I heard band music," be said to the clerk. The salesman looked at his watch, then went to the door, leaning lean-ing far out "The parade," he said on returning. "Late as usual. Ever seen a circus parade on time?" Joe Barry beard only two words. "Circus parade 1"' he said and grinned. "Gee I A big circus?" "Not so big. Dayton Brothers. Pretty good fit least, It was last year." Joe Barry saw the fag-end of the parade. He could see menagerie cages rocking along far ahead, with plumed horses; a Clown rode the line of march upon a stilt bicycle; there were three elephants, tall to trunk, and a calliope, hooting forth a steamy footnote to the procession. After Joe had eaten his luncheon he went out to the circus grounds. Three hours later, he still was on the show grounds, merely wandering wan-dering around. He had seen the big show and the sideshow twice. A starved boy-man had found a feast In the thing which had meant an acme of happiness since his earliest memories. . He stopped to talk to canvasmen and roughnecks, asking them where the circus would go from here, and If It was fun to be with a show like this. He listened to the gruff roarings of the animals In the menagerie tent, and stared at the maze of stakes and ropes, wondering wonder-ing how on earth they managed to pick up everything when they moved at night At last he paused before a small tent, set apart from the dressing tent proper, looking down with sudden longing npon a glittering thing which rested upon a chair there. "Geel" he said at last "It's an Iorlo !' After a time, he glanced about, like a boy about to go under a fence to an apple orchard. Then he leaned forward and touched It "Geel" h said again. - It was the first time he ever had seen one, outside of a music store show window. He glanced about him, then Impulsively picked up the instrument, merely holding It In playing position without the strap over his shoulders. Just to get the feel of It and to run bis fingers over the piano keyboard and to tap the tiny mother-of-pearl protu-beratious protu-beratious which denoted the "hundred "hun-dred and twenty base." Temptation was strong. At last he yielded. He used the bellows softly, sur-repetltiously, sur-repetltiously, as If he were actually actu-ally stealing the melody. A truly professional Instrument' like this had figured In many a dream of Joe "Nine hundred and forty, nine-sixty, nine-sixty, nine-eighty, a thousund " "A fellow could do a lot with ten times that much money," the voice beside him was saying. "He cotild go out Into some little town and buy himself a little busliiPss and a home. Or get a farm if he liked that kind of a life. What's a few years anyway? You're ouly about twenty-five." "But I wouldn't know what to do or say. I'd have to give myself up and say I'd done things that they could prove I didn't." "Don't let that worry you. All you have to do Is to refuse to answer an-swer any and all questions. That's no difficult job. Well," he asked quickly, "do you want that money? I'm banding you a chance to trade a few years for a good time all the rest of your life. Think It over." "But" "Kid," the man leaned closer. "That word's licked more men than all the penitentiaries In the world. Can It Look here," he said, "I'll give you tonight to think It over. Keep the money. Come to Louie's tomorrow at noon If you're going to be a welcher. If not get yourself your-self on a morning train and hop out of town for another good time. Just look the country over and see If It Isn' t worth trading a few years for. Got a pass-key, haven't you? Give It to me, I'll have the chauffeur drop by and fix up the place. Forget For-get that part of It. Take a day off. I'll come to your room at ten o'clock tomorrow night and get the verdict Nothing difficult about that Is there?" "No, sir." "And while you're out," said Martin, Mar-tin, "I'd put most of that money In some small-town bank. Give me the name of the bank tomorrow night and I'll deposit the rest for you; four thousand more when you prove you're going through with It and the other five when you're really on the way. Well," his tone bad finality. "Nobody ever got anywhere any-where by hesitating." An hour later, Joe Barry stood trembling in his gas-lit room. One sweating hand was clasped about the heavy roll of bills In bis trousers trous-ers pocket What was a few years to a young fellow? A person had to get a start In life somehow better bet-ter than half starving half starving starv-ing and being caged up here In the city, in a room like this. He counted the money for a second sec-ond and third time. He spread the certificates out before him, one beside be-side the other, until they covered the entire center of bis bed. There would be nine times this many more, put to his credit whenever he should say. Ten thousand dollars would buy a little business, maybe a music store, and a home in some small town. Start him up In life where he could amount to something! some-thing! It might be the beginning of a fortune. After a long time, he counted the bills again. Then be put them under un-der his pillow and tried to sleep. CHAPTER II MONEY had done its work by morning. Symbol though U might be of Impending lack of freedom, free-dom, it now held the lure of something some-thing exactly the opposite. Joe Barry's Ideas of penal Institutions were based upon the small Jail at Waverly where the incarcerations of the town drunk were more a subject for laughter than anything WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED Joe Barry, rountry youth In New fork, nkea out a living; caretaker care-taker n a poor-rooming house and accordion player In Louie Berto-llnl'e Berto-llnl'e restaurant. Lured by the open country, be spends a night In thi fields near Newburgh. Bertollnl discharges him. Friendless Friend-less and "broke," he la offered $14,000 by a man he knows only as "Martin" for a "few years' work," which Involves leaving New Tork and aolng "up the river riv-er piece." - CHAPTER I Continued 2 "That's what got me Into trouble, going up the river a piece. Every spring, I Just think I'll go crazy here In town. 8o yesterday morning, morn-ing, I woke np early and I Just didn't even stop to consider. I took all the money I had and went out and caught a bus and got off somewhere some-where up around Newburgh. Then I just wandered around. Gee, It was fun!" "Yes?" asked Martin, non-coramlt-tally. "Then what?" "Nothing, I Just kept on roaming roam-ing around. It would have been all right except that It rained. You know, It sort of made me not care if I kept my Job or not. I'd told myself In the afternoon that I'd never nev-er go hack. Well, I got under a tree and waited a long time until It stopped. Then I started out .and got off on a side road. It must have been after midnight before I came back to the main highway. I guess there bad been an accident There were some red lights out and something that looked like a truck turned over." "Anybody around to tell what happened?" "I don't know. I didn't go up. I thought afterward that maybe I should have gone np there, in case anyone was hurt still they'd put out red lights, so people must have been there. I Just kept on until I saw a light In a farmhouse and went up and asked If I could stay all niglit The old fellow must not have liked my looks. He ran me away. So I sneaked over In a field and burrowed Into a haystack. I used to do that a lot when I was a kid. It's a great way to dry off ; the hay's warm and It soaks up the water." "Come into town this morning?" asked Martin. "No, this afternoon. 1 must have been dog-tired. I slept until after one o'clock. Finally when I did come out, some fellows were In a field In a wagon. They yelled and started for me. I heard one of them shouting to the other about getting a gun. and calling the sheriff. So you bet I ran I They didn't see me again after I ducked Into a little grove. I caught the bus about four miles down the road." Joe Barry shifted suddenly. "But here I've been going on " "Quite all right It was very Interesting." In-teresting." Then, at quick variance, vari-ance, Martin asked : "I gather you haven't a sweetie here in New York?" "No such luck, Mr. Martin. Why?" "Just thought I'd ask." His voice became more crisp. "Now about my end of this affair. As I told yon, I'm an attorney. Now and then I am called upon to represent persons who get into trouble. I have a case now. A young fellow I know tried to beat the Jones law transporting liquor, you know. Naturally, my client doesn't care to suffer the penalties. It's largely a matter of circumstantial evidence. So we come to the point How would you like to step Into his shoes?" , There was a moment of waiting. "I don't think I understand." "Well, I don't know how to make it any plainer. I'm offering a straight business proposition. You "Uncle Dan I" A Red-Faced Man With Gray Hair and a Bulbous Nose Halted Abruptly. ody from the responsive Instrument In his grasp. Then again: "Gee, I oughtn't to be fooling around with this ; It's too valuable." "I wish Blackle Jordan thought so," said the girt "He's the fellow who plays for you?" queried Joe. "You saw the act, did you?" "Yes." Joe was awkwardly silent si-lent The girl smiled. "Well, go ahead and say it You didn't like it?" "Oh, I liked you." "But you didn't like the act? Well," the glrlishness of her had faded Into a youthful maturity. "I know it Isn't what It should be. You see. In the beginning, the Idea was fine. There was a young Italian on the show then who could play the accordion. So we decided on dressing Lombardl In a Pierrot costume, cos-tume, the same white silk one that Blackle wears now, and shutting off the rest of the show and having him sing and play In the center of the ring while I rested between turns. We could do that all right; the tent Is small enough for a voice to reach all parts of It Can you sing?" she asked naively. "Yes, I sing some," Joe Barry confessed. "I used to sing a lot" "I thought you did. I heard you humming when you first started te play." "Was I?" He laughed. "1 dldnt notice." "I gathered as much. Well, you'd understand what I mean, then. Lombardl Lom-bardl had Intended to put on a straight clown make-up not the funny kind, you know, but Just white, with black diamonds on his forehead and cheeks. I was to dress as Pierrette, and he would sing to me. But of course," she added as though Joe Barry knew all about It "he was hurt Just a week before we opened, and I don't suppose sup-pose he'll ever be able to troupe again. We'd already spent all this money for the best accordion Uncle Dan could buy, so we thought we'd salvage what we conld. Of course Blackle only plays a little and he hntoa It. an lip rinpgn'r I) pin much " give up your freedom for a while the Jones law In Itself, you know, Isn't so bad. Courts have the right to use their discretion on first offenders of-fenders who get the maximum, five years, with time off for good behavior. be-havior. My client can't afford to take the rap, as they call It x"ou. can. I'm offering you ten thousand dollars to do it." "But Td go to prison I" The youth's voice carried a tremor; Martin met it with matter-of-fact-ness. "All right," be answered. "Well suppose that you go to prison. Think It over. You're a prisoner anyway. Aren't you a prisoner?" Martin asked sharply. "Are you getting any sense of freedom out of this life you're living?" "No, sir; it's just a bed and three meals a day.". "Then you're already caged, In a way. There wouldn't be any shame In It because a person must have something on his conscience before he can feel sorry for an act Now, the mattet of Income, Suppose you had to do two years. lou'd have a roof over your head, three meals a day, comparatively kind treatment as long as you obeyed the rules, care In case of sickness, the chance to play In the orchestra and be a trusty, and besides that, you'd have the knowledge that you were Just doing a Job for which you were being be-ing paid nearly fourteen dollars a day. Sundays and holidays Included." Includ-ed." -Joe Barry felt suddenly dizzy. "But how would I know " "That you were to be treated squarely?" The man drew a hand from his pocket "Lean forward and count that I'll snap on the light." The dizziness Increased. Joe Barry's lingers fumbled with the b!!!s; his lips moved with audible undertones: Barry's j the music of . true steel reeds, the soft action of delicately balanced piano keys, the Instant response re-sponse to pressure; unconsciously his fingers played more swiftly upon up-on the keys and the pull of the bellows bel-lows grew stronger; the circus faded. "That's pretty," a voice said. The music ceased. Joe Barry felt the blood streaming Into his face; he gulped and hastily replaced the accordion upon the chair. "I didn't mean to play It," he said boyishly. Dazedly he realized that the girl who faced him, now In street clothing, had been the person per-son of silk and tulle when he last had seen her, swinging gracefully about the center ring of the circus upon a dappled gray horse. Then haltingly; "It's yours, I guess?" "It's In my act," she said. A pause followed, awkward yet natural, the mutual dispersing of all else while two young persons took stock of each other. The girl was young, ' only a year or so more than twenty. She was vibrant and alert; with something more In the blue depths of her eyes than mere beauty. The sun came gliding about the end of I the little tent and crept Into her hair, weaving a thousand meshes of gold there. She straightened; the clean-limbed vivacity of her rounded round-ed Into evidence even under the handicap of clothing. Suddenly she said: "Why don't you play some more?" Joe Barry stammered. "I don't know many things," he fenced and belled himself by reaching reach-ing eagerly for the gleaming instrument in-strument on the chair. "I'm sort of out of practice. You see." he confessed, con-fessed, "I've been working in a place where It doesn't make much difference." "In a theater?" asked the girt. "No, I was Just an entertainer." JId laughed. "My Job and I parted "You know, I thought that! I kind of felt "he hurt things,' Joe confessed. "You were so so pretty and graceful riding around there and so, oh you know, sort of fresh and sweet looking and everything" every-thing" "Be carefull" Sue Dayton laughed and grasping a guy rope, put her head against her upraised arm. "Well you know, I was Just telling tell-ing you what I was thinking. He didn't seem to take much interest Then I got to thinking, how pretty that all would be If there were somebody lc there who loved to play. This way, Blackle Is that his name? Is Just there. But It seemed to me that he ought to come In, like he'd followed you, and play as he entered the ring. And you would pose and throw kisses to him from upon the horse. Of course. It was kind of silly, I've never seen anything In a circus like that," "Silly?" The girl -had touched his arm. "Don't you know that It Isn't silly to think of such things, Just because they've never been done?" Suddenly she whirled, and called : "Uncle Dan !" A red-faced man with gray hair and a bulbous nose halted abruptly in his swift course from the padroom entrance of the big top. "Well, what Is It? What Is It, Sue?" he asked. Then he noticed Joe Barry. "Want to see me, young fellow?" "No, but I do," the girl broke In. "We've Just been talking about my act He has the most wonderful Idea for it I And I thought maybe the three of us could talk things over maybe" "Looking for a Job?" asked Uncle Dan. "Play that thingamajig?" "Beautifully 1" said the girl. "Looking for a Job?" asked Uncle Dan acaln. (TO BB CONTINUED I "A Fellow Could Do a Lot With Ten Times That Much Money," the Voice Beside Him Was Saying. Say-ing. ' else ; the county Institutions he had seen here and there, places to be avoided. It Is true, yet not imbued with the formidable aspects which a knowledge of a true prison can give one. Dannemora, Sing Sing these were merely names, without anything to aid In their plcturlza-tlon. plcturlza-tlon. Such thoughts, however, were not In Joe Barry's mind In detail. He only knew that he was going to lose his Identity for a few years in some sort of an institution, and that he was to be paid ten thousand dollars dol-lars for doing it. He could call one thousand dollars his own, and there were nine thousand dollars more to come. He was rlchl It was with this feeling of wealth, bathing hie brain with anesthetic anes-thetic unguents, that he took an early train out of the city. A day out of town; to do as he pleased, with no thought of anything except |