the white man's lingo. A guy named Merritt
and myself were disappointed about getting a concession for a snake show
at the Pan-American Exposition, and we found ourselves broke in Buffalo,
which is separated from the Bowery by about five hundred miles of very
tough walking when you haven't got the price of a railway ticket.
Merritt was mad clean through at being thrown down by the Exposition
managers, but he was an inventive genius and I knew that he would figure
out a way to raise the price of transportation.

[Illustration: _"A howl of terror from the platform."_]

"'Jim,' says he as we counted up our available assets and found that
they were pretty well along toward a minus quantity, 'it makes me dead
sore to be turned down this way without getting a run for our money, and
it's up to us to increase our capital and incidentally give the bunch
that done us dirt the double cross. Get your think tank working and see
what it will produce.' I couldn't see a way out, but when a squaw from
the Tonawanda Reservation, who was selling trailing arbutus, came up to
us and offered us a nosegay, Merritt gives a whoop and claps me on the
shoulder.

"'Jim,' says he, 'I've got it and we'll make our everlasting fortunes!'
He commenced to question the squaw, but all the English she knew was
'ten cent a bunch,' and he didn't make much headway until a big buck
Injin who had been watching her from across the street came over and
butted in. It appeared that he was her husband, and when Merritt stated
his proposition the buck accepted the terms without the formality of
consulting the squaw. When the Exposition opened we had a big tent on an
open lot across from the main entrance, with a life-sized picture of
'The Marvelous Mermaid' as big as a house. As I remarked, Merritt was an
inventive genius and he had worked up a scheme to deceive the confiding
public. He had provided a platform and carefully cut out a hole so that
the squaw could stand on the ground and the edges of the hole fitted
snugly about her waist. He made her lean forward and rest her chin in
her hands in the conventionally accepted mermaid position, and then he
fitted a fish tail which lay along the top of the platform, and it was
so skillfully joined to her that it looked as if it grew there. She was
a good-looking squaw and she certainly played her part and made an
interesting picture.

"Of course, he couldn't explain to her what he wanted her to do, but he
would tell t