Argosy All-Story Weekly — 'The Metal Monster' — page 154: what you’re looking at

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

by Samuel G. Camp ONSIDERING the length of time ( Aleck Wheeler and I have been mussing round in the show business we’ve had mighty few differences of opin- ion, and those we’ve had weren't serious. That is to say, whenever Aleck and I have disagreed on a matter of policy, or the like, we’ve never allowed a little thing like that —a mere difference of opinion—to inter- rupt our friendly relations; one or the other of_us has. always given in more or less gracefully, and the natural course of events has proved which, if either, of us was right, and no bones broken on either side. Yes, Aleck and I have always got along together first-rate. I’m not much of a fault-finder or bickerer and neither is Aleck; and no doubt that’s the reason why ~ you continue to see the words “ Manage- ment of Wheeler and Bowman,” or maybe ‘Wheeler and Bowman Present,” on the billboards here and there. And _ besides, though probably neither of us could qualify as a building inspector, we know that a house divided against itself is certainly due for a tumble, and that’s all we need to know. You see, about every once in so . often Aleck and I get thrown for a large loss anyhow, and so we don’t have to start any civil wars just because we’re curious to know how it feels to lose money in copi- ous quantities. We know already. On the other hand, looking at ’em from another point of view, some of those little differences of opinion that- Aleck and I have indulged in off and on certainly did have their serious side. And by that I mean that while the thing, whatever it hap- pened to be, was working itself out, compli- cations sometimes set in—serious compli- cations. Just for example, there was the time when Aleck and I were the sole owners and proprietors of a road show entitled ‘The Girls of the Moulin Rouge Revue.” I never had much confidence in that show, anyway. If I had anything to do with it, it would have been a lot different in a good many ways—no less than thirty, to be exact. That was the numbér of chorus ladies that Aleck had employed. You see, during the preceding season my health had sort of given out on me; and so, when we closed, Aleck announced it was up to me to take a good long vacation. ‘“ What you want to do,” said Aleck, “ is get out in the country and just lie around, and fish, and take things easy, and get your health and strength back. Believe me, Andy, when a man has lost his health he’s lost something that’s a blamed sight more important than money—though I’ll admit it’s hard to believe. So what you want to do is get out into the sticks somewhere and forget business. Leave it to me! We’ve talked it all over between us, and we're agreed on. our plans for next season, and one of us can see about getting the new company together, and all that, just as well as two. | 148 Digitized by Go ogle ——_ i — - —brigharfrom COMMIGLOOOLRS actor THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY