12 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



The Fryer show opened in Kansas City and then 

 worked right out to the coast. After a month in 

 San Francisco, we jumped to Hawaii. We showed 

 a month at Honolulu and the King rarely missed 

 a performance. We had a royal box fitted up for 

 him, and he had as good a time as any of the 

 youngsters. From Honolulu we went to Auckland, 

 New Zealand, where we found a twenty-day quar- 

 antine on all animals. We managed to get along 

 by giving performances in the Theatre Royal just 

 the acts that required no animals. After that we 

 went to Australia and showed at all the large 

 towns; then we shipped to Java. Next we visited 

 the Malay Peninsula, where later I was to spend 

 many years in collecting animals. 



During these long voyages, I spent much of the 

 time with Gaylord, listening to his stories of experi- 

 ences with animals. I had many questions to ask 

 and Gaylord, whose fund of information was inex- 

 haustible, always answered them and told me more 

 besides. 



A few days after we arrived at Singapore, he 

 said : "Do you want to come with me while I buy 

 some animals?" Naturally, I jumped at the chance. 

 We went to the house of Mahommed Ariff, the 

 Malay dealer who held a monopoly on the animal 

 trade. He was squatted in the center of his court- 

 yard, surrounded by cages containing the animals 

 brought in from the jungle by his native agents. He 

 was a wicked old devil and a man had only to glance 



