The Washington herald., 1913-08-31
CHAPTER XIV.
Fighting Blood.

Fighting Blood.
The last week of June Mr.. Curran
received this telegram:
Busted at Broken Bow. HEN"
He showed it to Aunt Abby, and
Uncle Mich, who came around every
week with a letter from Aurelie for
Mr.. Curran to read.
Mr.. Curran sighed Broken Bow is
jerkwater station out in the short
grass country. Western Nebraska.
Pretty tough. been there-l~ was
busted, also"
q hope said Aunt Abby. that the
child hasn't been compelled to have
anything else cut out, even If 1t IS
busted"
Mr.. Curran explained that this was
merely the theatrical company. Then
they put the telegram away behind the
clock where all of Aurelie's letters and
press notices were kept. The next
week came Aurelie'S explanation. The
Beauty Winner" company was strand
ed All that expensive scenery and
the reorganized troupe had gone for
nothing. Business was very poor, Hen
McFetridge explained. and the actors,
were clamoring for their salaries. All
except Aurelie who received hers every
week and sent most of il home. Au-
relic intimated that the twins were get
ting hard up. She heard frequent dis
cussions of oil and Verde copper stock
and other matters eXtraneous 10 art.
And the following week Mr.. Curran,
in Earlville to see some of his polit-
ical confrereS, was surprised to see
Morris Feldman in front OF his 10 and
20 cent Main Street vaudeville and
moving picture house.
Morris rolled his calf eyes compla-
Gently. Those two big blobs from
Tulare. Cal, Mr. Curran. what they
don't know about the show business is
much, believe me. They done some
fierce things. Why. up in Bozeman.
Mont, Mr.. Curran, those two big ginks
from Tulare, Cal. they leased the ho-
tel and turned everybody out Just be-
cause Miss Lindstrom she didn't like
the room she had! Can you beat il:
Nobody in that hotel except our bunch
of old hams. Say. and Hen and Ben
hired a chef in Denver what struck
EN- for three hundred month to go
along and cook for the troupe be-
cause Miss Lindstrom didn't like a
breakfast she got one morning. And
that old bunch of hams We had playin'
some of them troupers hadn't had a
square meal since eighty-one. Why,
Hen and Ben blew in more money on
cabs some DAYS than we could play to
and played poker, and nobody got any
IL. L.
They let Hanbury manage the back of
the house after that: and believe me,
anything Hanbury manages is friz-
zled before it starts
well, what'n the company do now?'
said Mr.. Curran
Walk" commented Mr.. Feldman.
And the twins?"
Back to Tulare. Oil"
And Miss Lindstrom;"
Mr.. Feldman turned a limpid eye
on Mr.. Curran. Miss Lindstrom. she II
make good if she ever shakes that
crazy bunch. l said: Little girl, you
get the clothes and go to New York
You got the stuff in YOU and you look
the part"
Believe me. What broke up the
show was the twins got stuck on her"
WHAT
"Dippy. Hen and Ben laid awake
nights thinking how to put it over each
other. Flowers. cabs. candies-every
girl in the bunch was in on it, too Au-
relic Lindstrom ran that whole show
and the twins paid the bills. Then We
blew up out in Nebraska When |
left. them ham actors was trying to
walk out OF the hotel wearing two suits
of clothes apiece and leaving their
trunks behind; and Hen and Ben were
buying drinks for some rube and try
ing to sell him oil stock"
Mr.. Curran was worried. He asked
Aunt Abby if he hould not send Au-
relic some money to come home on.
But he didn't have any. Then an
other Letter came. Aurelie was playing
Summer stock" in Denver. Miss Nor
man and me, but I'm not leading lady
any more I'm doing ingenue bits.
Leading lady with Hen and Ben
around was pretty bad. They were so
foolish And it was such a noisy play,
for the farther West we got, the more
shooting Mr.. Hanbury insisted on put
ting in. The big situation always gave
me a headache"
"Landp murmured Aunt Abby, 81
thought she had that cut out?"
But, Mr.. Curran," ran on Aure-
lies letter, don't you and Uncle Mich
worry about me. I'm working hard
and everybody seems to like me. The
juvenile l play against is good looking
quite distinguished. But everybody
borrows my money. Pm awful sorry
for Hen and Bentley were broke
completely. Hen came to me and said |
Little girl, we aren't sorry for a cent
we ever blew in on you. If you don't
want to marry us, you don't have to-
So they went back to Tulare to hunt
more cow tracks, and if they find oil
again they're going to make me a big
ger actress than Mrs. Fiske. Yes, sir
you seel Why, l just cried when the
twins went West-busted. They were
grand good fellows, after all
"P. S.: I'm going to send Uncle
Mich some more money next pay day
to pay on the cork leg. And, Uncle
Mich, ! saw mountain. just like you
said when we came up river to oc-
cupy the land. Only such a teeny
mountain wsy off-like a babys toe