up a purse quicker than that. I'll simply
have to go to Alice and Uncle William Grey and get a set-back,
and--say, John! I'm a polish, for fair! Alice is making all her
preparations, and has her mind fastened to the date, and all that
sort of thing, and like a chump I go up against that----"

"Oh, get back from the funeral, get back, Bunch!" I advised. "How
often have I told you not to cut a beef about the has-happened?
You went to Bennings, got dizzy, did a couple of Arabs and lose the
price of a wedding trip--that's all. Now we must get that money
back before the minister steps up to start the fight."

"How can I win out $3,500 in seven weeks, I'd like to know!" Bunch
moaned.

"A cincherine," I came back. "I've got a scheme cooking that will
put you and me all to the splendid in short order."

"Yes, but these schemes of yours sometimes get nervous
prostration," Bunch began to fret.

"Sush, now!" I said; "this is the real goods. It can't go wrong.
It's just like getting money from Carnegie. I've discovered a
genius."

"A genius!" Bunch repeated; "what kind of a genius?"

"His name is Signor Beppo Petroskinski, an Illusionist," I
answered. "And he's aces."

"What does he do?" asked Bunch; "spar eight rounds with the piano
or sell Persian rugs?"

"Nix on the hurry talk, Bunch," I said. "Petroskinski is a
discovery of mine, and he's all to the mustard. He's an
Illusionist, and he can pull off some of the best tricks I ever
blinked at. Say, he has Hermann and Keller and all those guys
backed up in a corner yelling for help. Skinski is our mint, and
we're going to take him out over the one-night stands and drag a
fortune away from Mr. and Mrs. Reub."

"You mean you're going to finance a tour for this unknown magician
and expect to win out? Say, John, don't let my troubles affect
your brain; I'll be good and stop crying!"

"I mean, Bunch, that Skinski is the wonder of the age, and all we
have to do is to show him to the public and they'll be handing us
their jewelry. You know, Bunch, I'm a few chips shy myself on
account of a side play which my wife knows nothing about. I
promised her to make a first payment of $5,000 on that new home
we're going to buy on the first of the year, and I fell down and
broke my promise. I thought I could drag the homestead money away
from the Street, so I took a few slices of Amalgamated Copper and
burned my thumb. Old Colonel Frenzied Finance didn't do a thing