As the train got to the middle of the river, and safe into
Arkansas, the whole management breathed a sigh of relief. The boss
canvasman said: "It is like getting money from home," and pa said: "It
is like taking money from the tin cup of a blind organ grinder," and the
treasurer of the show said, as he put the day's receipts in the safe in
the business car: "It looks good to me." Then they all turned in to
sleep the happy hours away, that beautiful Sunday on the way to Indian
Territory and Oklahoma.
Well, sir, you can never make me believe that money obtained dishonestly
will stay by a person, or do him any good, and that was demonstrated in
the case of our show the next day. We got acquainted with an old showman
who was out of luck, who used to run a wild west show, but got busted
up, and as he didn't care where he went, we took him with us on the
train, and all day Sunday he talked about his show experiences, and
finally he said if we had any horses with our show that could run races,
we could make a barrel of money at Guthrie, where we were to make our
next stand. He said the Indians and half breeds all had Indian ponies
that they thought could beat any horses that ever wore shoes, and that
they would bet every cent they had on their ponies, and as they had just
been paid their annuities by the government, they had money in bales,
and we could get it all, if we had horses that were any good, and money
to back them.
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