id tells me. "They make my eyes sore!"

"I don't mean watch 'em!" I explains. "I mean act in 'em! We're goin'
out to the well known Coast this afternoon and you're gonna be a movie
hero for five reels and thirty thousand bucks!"

"We don't fight Harris?" asks the Kid.

"No!" I says. "What d'ye mean _fight_! Leave that stuff for the
roughnecks, we're actors now!"

We got out to Film City at the end of the week and while there wasn't
no brass band to meet us at the station, there was a sad-lookin' guy
with one of them buckboard things and what at one time was probably a
horse. I never seen such a gloomy lookin' layout in my life; they
reminded me of a rainy Sunday in Philadelphia. The driver comes up to
us and, after takin' a long and searchin' look, says,

"Which one of you fellers is the pugeylist?"

"Pugilist?" I says. "What d'ye mean pugilist? We're the new leadin'
men for the stock company here. Pugilist! Ha! Ha! How John Drew
will laugh when I tell him that!"

He takes a piece of paper from his pocket and reads it.

"I'm lookin' for Kid Scanlan and Johnny Green," he announces. "One of
'em's supposed to be the welterweight champion, but I doubt it! I
never seen him fight!"

"Well," I says, "you got a good chance to try for the title, bo, if you
ain't more respectful! I'm Mr. Green and that's Kid Scanlan, the
champ!"

He looks at the Kid and kinda sneers.

"All right!" he says. "Git aboard and I'll take you out to Mr. Genaro.
I'll tell you now, though, that if you ain't what you claim, you got to
walk back!" He takes a side glance at the Kid. "Champ, eh?" he
mutters.

We climb in the buckboard and this guy turns to me and points the whip
at the Kid.

"He don't look like no pugeylist to me," he goes on, like he's lookin'
for a argument, "let alone a champion! Still looks is deceivin' at
that. Take a crab, for instance--you'd never think from lookin' at it
that you could eat it, would you? No! Git up!"

Git _up_ was right, because the animal this guy had suspended between
the shafts had laid right down on the ground outside the station,
whilst he was talkin' to us. The noble beast got gamely to its feet at
the word from Gloomy Gus, give a little shiver that rattled the harness
and then turned around to see what its master had drawed from the train
that mornin'. It took a good eyeful and kinda curled up its lip and
sneered at us, showin' its yellow teeth in a sarcastical grin.