Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-07-06

poy lHe tlutShco VA a
drunken father. In the second l had
him adopt the lad. In the third the
rough diamond began to realize.
through his affection for the little fell
low. that his own example was not
good. The rest was easy. And be-
lieve the boys who read the tales from
week to week liked him all the bet
ter At any rate, the sales OF the
series did not fall Off.
or course, the hero also had a heart
of'gold. He was a government marshal
and lived close to desperadoes. He-never
failed to get his man, nor did he ever
fail to give credit for his success ia. good
fortune or the assistance Of his loyal
helpers But he led his creator, meaning
me- an awful life. He was invariably,
getting himself into the most des-
perate situations. from which there
seemed no escape. Then it was UP to
me to get him out. This was a diff
cult matter, especially IL it happened
about the thirteenth hour of the six
teen it took to bring his success.
A friend of mine was engaged in
the same elevating occupation as I,
bat was writing still more frivolous
series. His clientele did not demand
the same logical action as did my
readers. incidentally, believe his
publishers did not reap the financial
benefits they would have otherwise.
One morning he called me up about
s o'clock
Busy today?" was his question.
Nothing pressing" I replied
Il have thirty two-thousand-w word
story to write before o'clock to-
night" he went on. Put your type
writer under your arm and come up
to my apartment"
How in the world can help you?"
asked. You can't write thirty-two
thousand words between now and
night"
Pack up your machine and come
on" Then he hung up
l reached his apartment about 9
O'Clock, typewriter and all.
X X X
Here he said. handing me twelve
pages OF manuscript. There are the
first two chapters. Look 'em over and
tell me where you will leave the main
characters at the end Of chapter four
you are going to write chapters three
and four, and I'll go ahead with Ave
and six. When you have finished
number four I'll be working on six
and I'll tell you where the chara cters
will be. Youth write seven and eight,
telling me where you will leave them.
and III go ahead with nine and ten
and SO on. Well each write eight Of
the sixteen chapters like this, and
we'n get it done by o'clock and
mailed to Boston by 7. Then I'll
blow"
We followed this plan. The young
mans mother appeared every hour
or so. read what he had written and
at O'Clock. when the last words were
the best novel her boy had written,
am glad to have Mrs. b. as a wit
ness to this rather unique way or
doing two days work in one. Mrs. b.
herself il q writer, and understood.
We wanted her to read the tale that
in the patchwork. Neither my col
laborator nor l ever read the COM
pleted tale. g
This young man was tempera-
mental. He blew into my rooms one
day, a manuscript under his arm.
I've written half this blamed
story" he said. throwing the roll in
my direction, land I'm tired. Finish
1T for me and I'll give you twenty
five"
After he had gone I settled myself
to read the first eight chapters of
the story. He had left his hero bound
on couch. unable to move hand or
foot. Above him were suspended by
hairs many heavy. sharp daggers
These dropped, one by one. at inter-
walls Of few seconds The last dag
ger was timed to fall in few moments,
straight plunging into the heros heart.
1t wasn't an easy situation to
solve. Some semblance Of possibility
was demanded of even steadily
Steve" and his miraculously powerful
assistants. However by dint of max
ing the hero create a current of air
from his mouth. causing the daggers
to sway from the paths planned for
them to travel to vital parts of the
hero's anatomy, and by arranging SO
that one Of the daggers would fall
across bandage on the right wrist
OF the bound man, obtained his free
dom. 1t was a simple matter, Incl
dentally. to have him grasp a conven-
lent yardstick. standing against the
wall. with his teeth. and with this to
sever the hair that held the dagger
- hn. a.