uess
I was born a liar and probably four-flushed my nurse when I was three
days old. When I was a boy, my incessant lying, although it harmed no
one but myself, kept me in countless scrapes. As I grew older, the
habit grew stronger and I lost girls, jobs, friends and opportunities
with breath-taking rapidity. Time after time I have sworn to rid
myself of the thing and speak nothing but the undiluted truth, and the
first time I open my mouth I find myself unconsciously telling the most
astounding falsehoods about myself with an ease that nauseates me!" He
tore himself loose from the Kid and kicked a innocent tomato can down
the canyon. "I know I'm nothing but a big four-flusher," he winds up,
"and I can't help it!"

Right then and there I warmed up to Joe Trout like I never had before.
After all, Miss Vincent had the right dope--he was nothin' but a big
kid at that, and any guy that will come right out in public and admit
he's a false alarm, deserves credit!

"Well," he says after a minute, "I suppose you're both through with me
now, eh?"

"Do I look like a quitter?" demands the Kid.

"I'm still here, ain't I?" I chimes in.

Joe coughs and took hold of our hands.

"Thanks!" he mutters. "And now---"

"Listen!" interrupts the Kid. "I got the whole thing doped out. When
is this dame of yours due to hit Film City?"

"She'll be here on that one o'clock train," moans Joe.

"Fine!" says the Kid. "Now get this! De Vronde is supposed to do a
fall from a horse in 'The End of the World' and the big yellow bum
won't do it. They're lookin' for some guy that will take his place,
just for that one flash, see? Now suppose I fix it so you get that
chance and when the dame comes on, there you are playin' the lead as
far as she can see, in the best part of the frolic. How's that?"

I thought Joe was gonna kiss him!

"I'll never forget it!" he hollers. "You have saved my life! What can
I do to repay you?"

"Stop four-flushing," comes back the Kid, "and be on the level!"

"I'll do it, if it kills me!" promises Joe--and I don't know whether he
meant the fall or the other.

"Can you ride a horse?" the Kid asks him as we start back.

"Can _I_ ride a horse?" repeats Joe, stoppin' short. "What a question!
Why at home I was the champion--"

"Now, now!" butts in the Kid. "There you go again!"

"Pardon me!" says Joe, gettin' red--and he quits!

Well, the Kid fixed it all right, so's Joe could double for De Vro