am
Welborn, seated in the reserve section was back to boyhood days. He
watched the many features of the bewildering panorama with childish
enthusiasm. It was a great show. Just before the finale, he was joined
by his little friend.

"Our next stop will be the dining car," said Davy as they followed the
crowd out the main entrance. "I have something I want to talk over
with one of you Westerners and I think you are the man."

"Maybe I am not a Westerner," said Welborn quietly.

"Why you live out here, don't you?" retorted Davy.

"Yes, I live out here, a great ways out, clear out to the rim of
things. If it wasn't for the mountains hemming the horizon, our 'wide
open spaces' would be without limit. I live beyond the Medicine Bow
Mountains over next to North Park. My nearest neighbor is two miles
away. I am fifteen miles from a filling station."

"Why, I didn't know there was a place in America that was fifteen
miles from a filling station. The oil companies are surely overlooking
a bet. Anyhow, every word you speak confirms my opinion that you live
at the right place." The two had arrived at the dining tent where a
head waiter was assigning the guests to their places among the many
tables.

"We'll sit here, Tony, if you don't mind," said Davy as he ushered his
guest to a table apart from the rest. He carried a high chair from
another table and signaled a waiter. "This is what I have in mind, Mr.
Welborn; I want to run away--run away from the yaps and yokels and the
gawkers and get out where nobody can see me and where I can act just
like a man. I am twenty-nine years old. For fifteen years I have been
the 'objective' of the gawking squad. I'm sick of it. I want to run
away when I see a crowd coming. When I am on the platform, I see
nothing but dumb faces; if I am on the ground, I see nothing but legs.
It's too tough a lifetime assignment. You understand I am not
complaining of my lot as a midget, but I am fed up on the role. I want
a rest--a change. And just now, is a good time to make the change from
a game where I've grown stale. My financial affairs are in good shape,
thanks to one of the finest men in all America, and I want to lay off
this freak business until I can look on it without vomiting.

"Two things woo me to this country: your wide open spaces, where
seeing a human being is reduced to the very lowest limit; and second,
I find that in playing vaudeville houses in the winter time, I develop
a sinus tr