addition to the above, twenty very unique
cards, similar to this:

PRESERVED CEAT.
FRUNT BENCH.

It was a long job, and he had bitten his tongue until it was sore in
his efforts to make the printing legible, while his fingers ached from
clutching the pencil so firmly; but he finished his task before the
curtain was completed, and was able to give his advice as to the
embellishment of it.

It was while working on the curtain that Johnny displayed his skill as
an artist, for he assumed the sole charge of it, insisting that the
others should proceed under his direction. It was spread on the floor,
and Hunter Jones was pursuing his work on his hands and knees, with
two candles stuck in bottles as his only light. But Johnny appeared to
be equal to the emergency, for he was dashing on the color rapidly,
not heeding the fact that one side of his nose was a beautiful green,
and the other a vivid red, while his chin was as black as if he had
been trying to paint a beard on it.

It was on the central figure of this intended work of art that Johnny
was expending the most of his labors, and to those who were watching
him it appeared something like an eccentric rainbow, or the interior
of a paint-shop, until Master Jones printed under it, to avoid any
possibility of mistake, "WiLD iNGuN," and then all could see the
resemblance at once.

[Illustration: ALL COULD SEE THE RESEMBLANCE AT ONCE.]

Johnny was proud of his work, and when at last it was completed, he
stood at some distance from it, transfixed with silent admiration of
what he had created, and quite regardless of the fact that the hot
tallow from the candle which he held in his hand was running down over
his fingers.

It had been decided to have a small painting in each of the four
corners, to prevent the Indian from looking lonely, and one of these
was to be done by each member of the firm.

Paul drew his entirely in black, in the right-hand lower corner, and
it was a very fair representation of two guns and a sword, although
the barrels of the guns were rather more crooked than they should have
been, while the edge of the sword was notched, as if it had had some
hard usage.

Dickey printed in red the same notice that the boys had seen in his
home, offering a reward for the apprehension of Tim Dooley; and
although his partners declared that it was not at all appropriate for
the curtain of a dramatic stage, he insisted that it should remain
there, cit