rved benches from dirt to canvas.
Honest, we could! Say, Mister, lemme put it to you on the level. You buy
in with me on this Great Australian Hippodrome, a half int'rest for
twelve thou cash, leave me the transportation and talent end, while you
do the polite gab at the main entrance, and if we don't lug away the
daily receipts in sugar barrels I'll own the boxin' kangaroos for first
cousins. Why, it's the chance of a lifetime! What do you say to it?"

And you should have seen the look on Cuyler Morrison's aristocratic map
as he inspects Hunk up and down and it dawns on him that he's bein'
invited to break into the circus business. But after the first shock has
passed off he ends by smilin' indulgent.

"My good fellow," says he, "you flatter me. My qualifications for such a
partnership are entirely too limited."

"If you mean you couldn't get away with it," says Hunk, "you got another
guess. Why, in one forenoon I could coach you up for a spiel that would
set 'em mobbin' the ticket wagons! And with you in a white silk lid
drivin' four spotted ponies and leadin' the grand street parade--say
they'd be lettin' out the schools for our matinees."

Out of the tail of my eye I could see that J. Bayard was speechless with
indignation. But what could I do? The only way of stoppin' Hunk was to
choke him, which wa'n't any pink tea proceedin'. Besides, Cuyler seems
to be mildly entertained at it all.

"A fascinating picture, truly!" says he. "I have often envied those
important personages at the head of street parades without ever dreaming
that some day the opportunity might come to me of---- But alas! I have
no twelve thousand to invest in such an estimable enterprise."

"Ah, quit your kiddin'!" says Hunk.

He wouldn't believe for a minute that Cuyler couldn't cash a check for
twice that, wouldn't even listen to Mr. De Kay while he protests that
really he's a poor man livin' on a government salary. Hunk knew better.
The ribbon on the shell-rim eyeglasses had got him, too.

"Very well," laughs Cuyler, givin' up the attempt. "But I must insist
that I have no surging ambition, at my time of life, to drive spotted
ponies in public. In fact, I've no ambitions at all."

"Then that's just why you ought to hook up with me," says Hunk. "Wait
until you've been out a week on the road; that'll be enough to get you
interested. And take it from me, there ain't any game like it,--pilin'
out of your berth at a new pitch every mornin', b