Page:Hugh Pendexter--Tiberius Smith.djvu/151



OW we worked our way southward on an Eagle City boat remains too harshly in my memory to be dwelt upon. Enough to say Tib swallowed his pride once we arrived at Seattle, and wired, 'Collect,' to the circus boss. 'Need several hundred dollars to buy umbrellas,' was the trend of his message, for he would never openly concede defeat. And we didn't have to wait for a letter in receiving it, either; although the first post did bring a most beautiful and blistering call for allowing the purse-strings to get unwholesomely loose. You see, the Big Top people were there to stake Tib in anything, from the manufacture of soap-bubbles to selling warming-pans in Cuba. For I suppose there never was any one man who pulled off so many big coups in their interest as he. I've simply detailed some of our mishaps, as I believe the defeats wore a broader fringe of the unique than could be found on the average victory.

"But the sight of real money, printed on both