fter all the free advertising, but he didn't know me.

[Illustration: _"We didn't have any regular snake charmer, but Merritt
made himself up for a Hindoo fakir."_]

"Sure enough, the reporters came for me in a body while I was still
tired and dirty from the fight and worn out with anxiety and loss of
sleep. They accused me of having put up a job on them, but I guess the
sight of my condition convinced them of my sincerity, for only one paper
even hinted at any crookedness, and that proved the best advertisement
in the whole business.

"It was the _Sun_ which came out in an article about Wallace, saying
that he was toothless and decrepit from old age, and that there had
never been the slightest danger from him. If the reporter who wrote it
had gone into the stable with us, I don't think he would have written
the article. I did my own announcing in those days and I always started
off with the announcement, 'Ladies and gentlemen! If you see it in the
_Sun_, it's so, and the _Sun_ says that Wallace is played out and
toothless from old age.' Then I would make a move to the front of the
cage, and Wallace, who had a special hatred for me, would spring at the
bars and show as pretty a set of fangs as you would wish to see and I
was always sure of a laugh.

"Well, I showed Wallace in New York and other cities for thirty straight
weeks and got back the value of that trotter a good many times over,"
continued the Proprietor as he rose from the table. "His name is one to
conjure with, even yet, and nearly every lion which is exhibited in the
side shows at the county fairs is billed as 'Wallace, the Untamable!'
The original Wallace is still alive and at our English breeding
establishment." He said good-night and left the table, the Press Agent
looking regretfully after him.

"That's just like the boss," he complained as he watched the retreating
figure. "He takes the center of the stage until he has told his story,
and when my turn comes to get in the limelight he does the disappearing
act. That was a pretty good story, but talking of escapes, I can tell
you about an escape that is worth talking about. It happened when a guy
named Merritt and myself were running a snake show next to a camp
meeting down on the Jersey coast. We didn't have any regular snake
charmer, but we bought a lot of wrigglers from a dealer down on the
Bowery and Merritt made himself up for a Hindoo fakir. He would get into
the cage with them and those snak