THE PET CAT
The typewritten sheet of the letter from Mr. Waldon enclosed two of the
engraved circus coupons. They fluttered to the floor of Joe's private
tent as he tore open the envelope.
"Well, either he has discovered something, or he has sent them back and
given up," mused the young magician. "Let's see what he says."
Joe quickly took in the contents of the letter. In effect it stated that
Mr. Waldon had discovered which were the bogus and which were the real
circus tickets. He first gave an explanation of the chemical tests he
used. Joe read this hastily, but carefully, then passed to the
conclusions arrived at by the expert, who was an authority on various
kinds of paper, as well as chemicals.
"The ticket I have marked No. 1 is a genuine coupon, issued by your
circus corporation," said Mr. Waldon in his letter. "The slip marked by
me as No. 2 is a counterfeit. You will observe that they both bear the
red ink serial number 356,891.
"If you were a paper expert you would observe that the paper used in
the two tickets is different. There is not a very great difference, and
I am inclined to think that both the genuine and the counterfeit tickets
were made on paper from the same mill, but of a different 'run.' That
is, it was made at a different time.
"The printer who manufactured your tickets bought his paper from a
certain mill making a specialty of this particular kind. Then some one,
who must know something of your financial and business interests, had
the bogus tickets made, and on the same kind of paper. But there is a
slight difference, which I was able to detect by means of chemical
reactions. The coloring matter used varied slightly, though the texture
of the two kinds of paper is almost exactly similar.
"Now, having settled that point, the solution of the remaining equations
of the problem rests with you. I can not tell who had the bogus tickets
printed. You will have to go to the mill making the paper and find out
to whom they sold this kind. In that way you will learn the names of all
printers, using it, and by a process of elimination you will get at the
one who printed the counterfeits.
"This printer may be an innocent party, or he may be guilty. That is for
you and the detectives to determine. I hope I have started you on the
right track. I shall be interested to hear, my dear Mr. Strong, how you
make out in your fire-eating act."
"I'll tell him as soon as I try it on a real audience," said Joe, with a
smile, as he folded the letter. "And so counterfeit tickets have been
rung in on us! Well, I suspected that, since our own men were thoroughly
to be trusted. Now to get at the guilty ones. And I shouldn't be
surprised if I could name one of the men involved. But I'll call a
meeting, and lay this before the directors."
The Sampson Brothers' Show was incorporated and was run strictly on
business lines. There was a board of directors who looked after all
business matters, and Joe was soon in consultation with them, laying
before them Mr. Waldon's letter and the two marked tickets.
"It would take an expert to tell them apart," said Mr. Moyne, as he
examined the coupons closely. "Well, what are we to do?"
"In the first place," declared Joe, "we must change our form of general
admission tickets at once. That will stop the fraud, graft, or whatever
you want to call it. Then we must do as Mr. Waldon says--look for the
guilty parties. We'll have to hire some detectives, I think."
This plan was voted a good one, and steps were at once taken to change
the form and style of the general admission tickets. Joe also wired for
a man from a well known detective agency to meet the show at the next
town. Then the printing shop which made the circus tickets was
communicated with.
That was all that could be done at present, and Joe gave his attention
to perfecting his new fire-eating act.
He did not give up his mystery box trick, and he still presented the
vanishing lady illusion, Helen assisting in both of these. Joe also did
the big swing, which always caused a thrill on account of the danger
involved. Careful watch was kept over the trapeze and other apparatus so
that no more dangerous tampering could he attempted, and Joe always
looked over everything with sharp eyes before trusting himself high in
the air.
"Some one evidently has a grudge against me as well as against the
circus in general," he said to Jim Tracy.
"Maybe it's the same person," suggested the ringmaster.
"Perhaps. Well, as soon as we get some word from the detectives we can
start on the trail."
The circus had arrived at a large city, where it was to show three days
and nights, and preparations were made for big crowds, as the city was
the center of a large number of industries, where many thousands of men
were employed at good wages.
"We'll play to 'Straw Room Only' at every performance," said Mr. Moyne,
rubbing his hands with glee as he thought of the dollars that would be
taken in. "And I'm glad we discovered the bogus tickets in time. We'd be
out a lot of money if the counterfeits were to be used here."
"Yes," agreed Joe. "But we aren't out of the woods yet. The same man who
imitated the light green tickets may have the bright blue ones which we
now use for general admission duplicated and sell them."
"We'll have to take that chance," said the treasurer. "But I'll instruct
the ticket takers to be unusually careful."
That was all that could be done. The detective had reported that he was
making an examination, starting at the paper mill, and was endeavoring
to learn where the bogus tickets had been made.
The circus parade had been held and witnessed by enthusiastic crowds
lining the streets. Then was every prospect of big business, and it was
borne out.
Joe wished he had prepared his fire act earlier but it could not be
helped.
"I'll have it ready for to-morrow, though," he said to Jim Tracy, at the
conclusion of the first afternoon in the big city where they were to
stay three days.
"Then I'm going to have it advertised," said the ringmaster, who also
sometimes acted as assistant general manager. "We'll bill it big. You're
sure of yourself, are you?"
"Oh, yes," answered Joe with a laugh. "I'll give 'em their money's worth
all right, but it won't be the big sensation I'm planning for later on.
That will take time."
"Well, as long as it's a fire act it will be new and novel, and it will
draw," declared Jim Tracy.
It was later in the afternoon, when the circus performance was over,
that Joe and Helen strolled downtown, as was their custom. Some
convention was being held in the city, and across one of the principal
streets was stretched a big banner of the kind used in political
campaigns.
It was hung from a heavy, slack wire from the brick walls of two
opposite buildings, and the banner attracted considerable attention
because of a novel picture on it.
Joe and Helen were standing in the street, looking up at the swaying
creation of canvas and netting, when a woman's cry came to their ears.
"Look! Look! The cat! The cat is walking the wire!" she exclaimed.
Joe and Helen turned first to see who it was that had cried out. It was
a woman in the street, and with her parasol she pointed upward.
There, surely enough, half way out on the thick, slack wire, and high
above the middle of the street was a large white cat. It was walking
the wire as one's pet might walk the back fence. But this cat seemed to
have lost its nerve. It had got half way across, but was afraid to go
farther and could not turn around and go back.
As Joe and Helen looked, a woman appeared at the window of one of the
buildings from the front walls of which the banner was suspended, and,
pointing at the cat, cried:
"A hundred dollars to whoever saves my cat! A hundred dollars reward!"