"They divided the mass of hair in two parts, each stuffed his portion into two leather cartridge pouches, wound the straps around his wrists, and they went at each other in regular prize ring style with their extemporized boxing gloves. "Paderewski gave a yell of pain and dismay, and clasped his hands to his bald head in horror. "'I am ruined,' he said. 'My professional career is at an end. What shall I do?' "I tried to separate John and Nat, but I got a backhander from one of those Paderewski boxing gloves that stretched me out into a big cactus. * * * * * "Just then Joe Pulitzer came into camp, dragging a big lion by the tail he had just shot in a canebrake on the river. "'Vat's dis?' he asked, gazing through his spectacles at the two boxers who were hitting at each other and dodging around and at Paderewski, who was wailing and moaning at the loss of his scalp. "'I wouldn't have taken $5,000 for that hair,' he groaned. "'Vat vill you gif,' said Pulitzer, 'for another head of hair yoost as good?' "He went up close to Paderewski and they whispered together for a few minutes. Then Joe got out a tape line and measured Paderewski's head. Then he took a knife and cut out a piece the exact size from the back of the lion's head and fitted it on Paderewski's. He pressed it down close, and bound it with light bandages. "It seems almost incredible, but in three days the skin had grown fast, the pain was gone, and Paderewski had the loveliest head of thick, tawny, flowing hair you ever laid your eyes on. "I saw Paderewski give Pulitzer a check that evening behind the tent, and you can bet it was a stiff one. I don't know the exact figure, but Joe bought out the _World_ as soon as we got back to New York and has since done well. "It simply made Paderewski's fortune. That head of hair he wears will make him a millionaire yet. I never hear him bang down hard on the bass keys of a piano, but I think of a lion roaring in a South African forest, and I'll bet he does, too." * * * * * "I like stage people," continued Colonel Pollock. "They are, as a rule, the jolliest companions in the world and the most entertaining. Hardly a year passes that I do not make up a congenial party for a pleasure trip of some kind, and I always have two or three actors in the crowd. Now, a year or two ago, some of us got together and took a three months' voyage to see the sights. There were DeWolf Hopper, Dr. Parkhurst, Buffalo Bill, Eugene Field, Steve Brodie, Senator Sherman, General Coxey, and Hermann, the great magician, among the party. "We were guests of the Prince of Wales, and went in his steam yacht, the _Albion_. None of us had been to Australia, and the prince wanted to show us around that country. We had a lovely trip. We were all congenial souls, and our time on shipboard was one long banquet and frolic during the whole journey.