"'Ladies and gentlemen,' he says, 'I thank you for your good work. Mr. De Mott will represent me on the road. I hope you will be a happy family, and I wish you success.' "Outside of the chicken, I'm not stuck on the bunch. They're as cheap a gang as I'm ever up against. This De Mott guy is a cheese right, but he sure thinks he's the original bell-wether. He's strong fur the chicken, 'n' this makes the others sore at her. They don't have much to do with me neither, 'n' she don't fall fur De Mott, so her 'n' me sees each other a lot. "She's a bug over hosses 'n' the track. She wants me to tell her all about trainin' a hoss 'n' startin' a hoss 'n' fifty other things besides. "'I always lose,' she says. 'But then, I'm a rummy. Can you tell which horse is going to win, Blister?' "'Sometimes,' I says. "'When you go back to the track will you put me wise so I can win?' she says. "'You bet I will, girlie!' I says. 'Any time I cut loose a good thing you gets the info right from the feed-box.' "De Mott keeps noticin' us stickin' together. He's talkin' to her once when I'm passin' by. "'He's on the square,' she says pretty loud. 'And that's more than you can say about a lot of people I know.' "'That big ham was trying to knock you,' she says to me afterwards. "We makes a bunch of towns. Nothin' very big--burgs like Erie 'n' Grand Rapids 'n' Dayton. Finally we hits St. Louis fur a two weeks' stand. This suits me. I'm sure tired of shippin' the dogs every few days. "One night the chicken stops me as I'm takin' the pups to their kennel. "'Come back for me, Blister,' she says, 'when you get your horses put up. There's a Johnny in this town that's pestering the life out of me. He wants me to go to 'Frisco with him.' "When I gets back to the theater I sees a green buzz-wagon at the stage door with a guy 'n' a shofe in it. "The chicken has hold of my arm comin' out of the door, but she lets go of it 'n' then steps up straight to the buzz-wagon. "'I can't keep my engagement with you this evening,' she says. 'My brother's in town and I'm going to be with him.' "'Bring your brother along,' says the guy, 'n' I know by that he's got it bad. "'I can't very well,' she says. 'We have some family matters to talk over. I'll see you some other evening.' "The very next night a bunch of scenery tumbles over. The race is goin' on, 'n' Edwin Booth is layin' down to it right. A piece of scenery either falls under his feet or else jims the machine, I never knows which, anyhow, all of a sudden the hoss gets real footin'. Bingo! We're on our way like we're shot out of a gun. We go through all the scenery on that side 'n' Edwin Booth does a flop when he hits the brick wall at the end of the stage. The ole hound ain't even scratched. I ain't hurt neither. "The curtain rings down 'n' De Mott comes a-lopin' to where I'm gettin' a painted grand-stand off of Edwin Booth's front legs. "'In heaven's name what were you trying to do?' he says.