[Illustration: I Will Search for the Wildest of Red Men.]
They gave three cheers for pa, and then they brought in the blankets and
tossed everybody up until they lost everything out of their pockets and
yelled that they had enough, and they wound up by tossing pa up in the
blanket until he could see stars. They were going to give the fat woman
a hoist, when the boss canvasman gave the signal to take down the tents,
and all was in a hubbub for about 15 minutes.
[Illustration: They Tossed Pa Up in the Blanket.]
When everything was down and everybody went to the train, after joining
hands around the middle ring and singing "Old Lang Sine," pa and I and
the managers went to a hotel to organize our expedition to the far west
in search of talent for a wild west show that shall be the greatest ever
put under canvas. After all had gone away, and only pa and I and the
managers were left, it seemed, as we thought over the incidents of the
past season, as though there had been an earthquake and the whole show
had been blotted out of existence.
Pa choked up and was going to cry, and I got my throat full of something
so I could not speak, and the managers began to wipe their eyes, and pa
saved the day by saying: "Oh, what's the use, let's order up some
highballs," and when they came, with a red lemonade for me, pa said:
"Well, here's to the people that crowd around the ticket wagon and fight
to get the first ticket when the window is open, and go away after the
show and say it is the greatest show ever.
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