Argosy and Railroad Man's Magazine, Vol. 107 No. 3 — page 182: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

524 trotted, leaped from their forced imprison- ment, and scattered themselves to the four points of the compass. ‘ And finally, with a peculiar, rolling move- ment, emerged a form in rainbow-hued silks —a veritable mermaid—dampened Caro- line! The spectators rose to their feet as one. Cheers, howls, rumbling laughter filled the theater. The orchestra burst into a cur- rent seaside success, and Balboa Higgins, catching sight of a cork embedded in the bottom of an upturned, hollow, ark leg, shambled backward dizzily. The figure in clinging silks got to its feet. The figure’s eyes alighted on the cork. The curtain fell. Fascinated, Higgins watched Caroline reach for the handle of one of the overfull buckets he had let thud to the floor. She lifted the heavy pail as though it were a feather, and advanced on the _ horror- stricken magician. ‘ Car’line!” Probably the innocence she read in his eyes, rather than his voice, influenced her; for, suddenly swerving to the right, she strode toward a puffed-up effigy in the wings—an effigy that had not time to turn and flee before she reached him. “You! You're the one! You tried to queer our act! Make a nymph of me!” She helmeted him with the pail of ice- cold water, and the corpulent nut mono- logist fell without a murmur. Her features cleared. She rushed to the amazed conjurer, and with an ‘“‘ Oh, Hig!” pillowed her wet head on his shoulder. The stage door opened. A muscular six- footer with a red face confronted them. “Caroline,” the newcomer faltered, “I want to thank you for sending for me. Where’s—” ARGOSY AND RAILROAD MAN’S MAGAZINE. She pointed to the coming-to-life wreck in the wings, then, her nose tilted, her face pale, her tone cold: “ You needn’f thank me, sir!” And taking Balboa gently by the arm: ‘‘ Come on, Hig.” They hadn’t moved ten paces when a second person rushed in from the street— Maxwell, of the Calcium Circuit. ‘Great, Higgins! Biggest laughing hit in years! Something went wrong, though, didn’t it? Luckiest thing that ever hap- pened! Play your magical skit exactly as you did to-day, and you can start right over the circuit again as soon as you finish this tour. An act like that’s worth more money, too! How about it?” “ How ’bout it, Car’line?” Balboa passed the buck. She hesitated. “I don’t know, Hig,” she smiled. ‘“ But I think I prefer the flood to the fire.” At her dressing-room door, receiving a glad affirmation to a leading question, Hig- gins ventured another. ‘You didn’t really care for Brady after all, Car’line?”’ ‘“} should say not! Nor the fellow I’ve been hobnobbing round with the last week, either. I only went with him to get you good and jealous, and make you cancel that cremation—” “ Wasn’t the man who watched our re-. hearsals—”’ . : ‘““He was a pirate! He was using my former partner’s stuff, all right, and was willing to pose as him for your benefit. But he was no more the original—I thought it oly right, though, to wire Brady, so he could come on from the East and protect his material. ‘But me care for him? Huh! Didn’t you see the cold shoulder I gave him? Hig! Let go your chin! You’ll break it off!” Are You Sure You've Done ALL You Could? Buy Victory Bonds And Make Assurance Doubly Sure! ‘ COMICEDOO S (C(O) inn