Homepage
Login
Profile
BookClubs
dmBox
Read Ebook: Encyclopedia of Diet: A Treatise on the Food Question Vol. 2 by Christian Eugene
Font size:
Background color:
Text color:
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page Prev Page
Ebook has 1860 lines and 50993 words, and 38 pages
"Why," he cried, "your face is so long that you'll be hitting your toes against your chin when you walk, if you're not careful."
"Whut I need is somebuddy to hit their toes against my pants jest where I set down, an' do it real hard," said Ephraim. "I wisht I'd stayed to hum on the farm when I went back there and giv up the idee that I was an actor. I kin dig 'taters an' saw wood a darn sight better'n I kin act!"
"You're all right, Ephraim," assured Merry. "You had to fill that part in a hurry, and you were not sure on your lines. That worried you and broke you up. If you had been sure of your lines, so that you would have felt easy, I don't think there would have been any trouble as far as you were concerned."
"I dunno abaout that. I never felt so gosh-darn scat as I did larst night. Why, I jest shook all over, an' one spell I didn't think my laigs'd hold me up till I got off ther stage. It was awful!"
"You had an attack of stage fright. They say all great actors have it once in their lives."
"Waal, I never want to feel that air way ag'in! An' I spoilt that scene in the dressin' room of the clubhaouse. Oh, jeewhillikins! I'm goin' aout of the show business, Frank, an' git a job paoundin' sand. It don't take no brains to do that."
"Cheer up! You are going to play that same part in this play, and you'll play it well, too."
"Whut? Then be yeou goin' to keep right on with the play?" asked the Vermonter, in astonishment.
"No," said Merry, "I am not going to keep right on with it. I am going to put it into shape to win, and then I'm going out with it again. My motto is, 'Never say die.' You heard what I told the audience last night. I promised them that I would play in this town and would make a success. I shall keep that promise."
Hodge shook his head.
"You are smart, Frank, but there's a limit. I'm afraid your luck has turned. You are hoodooed."
Just then a coal-black cat came out from under the bed and walked across the room.
"And I suppose you think this is my hoodoo?" smiled Merry, as the cat came over and rubbed against his leg. "That's where you are away off. This cat is my mascot, and she shall travel with me till the piece wins. She has stuck to me close enough since she walked onto the stage where we were rehearsing in Denver."
"The cat is not the hoodoo," said Bart, shaking his head. "I know what is."
"You do?"
"Sure."
"Name it."
"I am!"
"You?"
"Yes."
Frank stared at Bart in surprise, and then burst out laughing.
"Well, how in the world did you happen to get such a foolish notion into your head?" he cried.
"It's not foolish," declared Bart, stubbornly. "It's straight, I know it, and you can't make me think differently."
Frank rose and walked over to Hodge, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Now you are talking silly, old man," he said. "You never were bad luck to me in the past; why should you be now. You're blue. You are down in the mouth and your head is filled with ridiculous fancies. Things would have happened just as they have if you had not joined the company."
"I don't believe it."
"You always were superstitious, but I believe you are worse than ever now. You have been playing poker too much. That's what ails you. The game makes every man superstitious. He may not believe in luck at the beginning, but he will after he has stuck to that game a while. He will see all the odd things that happen with cards, and the conviction that there is such a thing as luck must grow upon him. He will become whimsical and full of notions. That's what's the matter with you, Hodge. Forget it, forget it!"
"I think you are likely to forget some things altogether too early, Merriwell. For instance, some of your enemies."
"What's the use to remember unpleasant things?"
"They remember you. One of them did so to an extent that he helped ruin the first presentation of your play."
"How?"
"It isn't possible that you have forgotten the lying notices circulated all over this city, stating that you were not the real Frank Merriwell, accusing you of being a fake and a thief?"
Something like a shadow settled on Merry's strong face.
"No, I have not forgotten," he declared, "I remember all that, and I'd like to know just who worked the game."
"It was a gol-dinged measly trick!" exploded Ephraim.
"You thought it would not hurt you, Frank," said Hodge. "You fancied it would serve to advertise you, if anything. It may have advertised you, but it did you damage at the same time. When the audience saw everything was going wrong, it grew angry and became convinced that it was being defrauded. Then you had trouble with that big ruffian who climbed over the footlights with the avowed purpose of breaking up the show."
"Oh, well," smiled Merry, in a peculiar way, "that fellow went right back over the footlights."
"Yes, you threw him back. That quieted the audience more than anything else, for it showed that you were no slouch, even if you were a fake."
"Oh, I suppose I'll find out some time just who did that little piece of advertising for me."
"Perhaps so; perhaps not."
Tap, tap, tap--a knock on the door.
"Come!" Frank called.
The door opened, and Billy Wynne, the property man, looked in.
"Letter for you, Mr. Merriwell," he said.
Frank took the letter, and Wynne disappeared, after being thanked for bringing it.
"Excuse me," said Merry, and he tore open the envelope.
A moment later, having glanced over the letter, he whistled.
"News?" asked Bart.
"Just a note from the gentleman we were speaking of just now," answered Frank. "It's from the party who gave me the free advertising."
"Waal, I'll be kicked by a blind kaow!" exploded Gallup. "An' did he hev ther gall to write to ye?"
"Yes," said Frank. "Listen to this."
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page Prev Page