Evening star., 1923-02-25
BY COURTNEY RYLEY COOPER
Who Takes Us Behind the
-. Scenes at the Circus

But 7 do," came from the fashy
young man. II like 1t a lot. I'm five
thousand to the good"
II know-but you're liable to be
five thousand to the bad in minute
II you keep 1t UP. Can't you sec he's
leading you on7" Blackbird con-
fded in a whisper. Lets try sone-
thing different" Then aloud: "A.n't
you got anything eise?"
I'VE strive TO please" droned
sweetie Papa. meanwhile boring a
couple Of holes through Blackbird
Jordan with his unusually mild eyes.
and incidentally drawing three little
English walnut shells from a pocket.
II have hero the old reliable finders
Keepers. You will observe the three
little shells and the little pea Now.
by a simple twist-o OF the wrist. we
change the position
But the talk counted for little. The
action was far more important. When
they led the fiashiiy dressed young
man away from the three-shell game
the funds OF the Blackbird-Sweetie
Papa combination had fallen per-
ceptibly and Sweetie Papa's eyes
were speaking encyclopedias in the
direction OF Blackbird Jordan, who
pretended not to see. They went on
to the dropcase, with an actual five
minutes OF slight. reconstruction OF
the partnership roll. Then the fashy
young. man decided to plunge. And
about the same time he began to win.
Desperately Sweeue Papa turned the
conversation to a new game alu
new chance at vsctosy-and made a
mistake.
For again Il was ono OF those
amusing devices where the sucker
bets his money on the little squares
Of big table and awaits the count
ing OF ten dice as they are thrown
from the box, under ordinary circum-
stances, to be led on by the du-
plicitous counting Of the game
keeper 70 star numbers" on which
he neither wins nor loses, but SIM
ply doubles his bet, to the come
obs" and other devices which In
veigle his wealth, bit by bit. upon
the table, and Fate turns down her
thumbs in accordance with the quick
count Of the man behind the game.
But this time there was something
wrong. The fashy young man laid
out his money. placed his bets, cut
counted the fast-counting Sweetie
Papa, swept the dice aside before
xynrtfv tha adj
dit;on, and claimed his winnings.
Neither Blackbird nor Sweetie Papa
spoke. One Of them, at least, was
past speaking. The other showed
plainly that silence on the part OF
sweetie Papa was all that he de-
sired. Again the conversation led
In the direction Of another game, and
the only safe one OF all, the cologne
joint.
Hastily Sweetie Papa explained 1t.
Quite casually he announced the fact
that the biggest ever railroad
shows" now was exploiting the vir-
tues Of the red rose perfume. toilet
waters and dressing table luxuries,
alloting to each and every county a
capital cash county advertising prize.
All for a trifinE sum It would be
possible to obtain for this county
and district the advertising possibili-
ties and exclusive agency Of the red
rose perfume simply through exer-
cising a small amount OF perspicacity
and acumen. Hero was little box
Would the tail gentleman hold 1t?
Now. for 500. a despicable sum when
compared to the grand total. the
fashy gentleman might havc one
guess to win the capital cash county
advertising prize of $1,000 and the
exclusive agency In this territory
and district of the red rose perfume,
In this little box were the twenty
six letters OF the alphabet. All ex-
cept one were turned with their faces
to the rear Of the box. Could the
young gentleman guess that one let
ter? The $4,000 capital cash county
advertising prize depended upon II
5000 for 500, $4,000 for 5000
$4,000 for $500 and so on in pro-
portion. What would the gentleman
prefer? =,
TT was then that Sweetie Papa
i turned away for just a moment
the old, old stall of the cologne
Joint game. In that moment. in that
.urnaway, lay the game, lay the lure
Of wealth for the sucker and the GER
tainty OF gain for the gamekeeper. 1t
WIS the old reliable. And as he
turned, sweetie Papa allowed his eyes
to 70 serene for the first time that
afternoon.
For there was object in that
"turnaway." In that second the game
was to be played and won-by the
gamekeeper and his confederate. In
that second. Blackbird, acting as the
capper, would open the box for just
an instant, raise the Hateful card just
far enough for the sucker to mistake
the letter r for a letter p, or q Q for
q letter o. or perhaps an e for an F.
In that moment there should come
into the fiashy persons soul the
yearning for vast wealth and q de-
sire to bet many dollars at the rate
OF $1,000 return for every hundred
invested. And as Sweetie Paps
called some imaginary instruction &c
an imaginary canvasnan on the othel
side of the little s!dewall, ne heard
q slight rustling which told him that
the peek" was In progress. He re.
turned to the table. Just IN time &c
see the fiashy young man covering
the apparent excitement OF Blackbirt
Jordan as he closed the box
make your BETS" he drawled; "one
hundred gets you Ave thousand, two
hundred gets you ten. three hun.
dred--"
"Guess I'll go the limit" came Ia.