FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



station, where I learnt that no one had seen or 

 heard anything of the horse-box. Anxious beyond 

 expression as to its fate, in which my own was 

 involved, I telegraphed to Bristol only to be 

 told that it had been sent on as arranged. In an 

 agony of fear, I instituted inquiries in all direc- 

 tions as to its whereabouts, but without success. 

 At last a porter, with a philosophical indifference 

 which was maddening, calmly remarked that there 

 was a horse-box attached to the Bristol train re- 

 ferred to, but, as no one had unhooked it, it was 

 by this time well on its way towards Land's End. 

 My feelings on receipt of this information can 

 be better imagined than described. The stewards 

 would be arriving next day, expecting to find 

 the show machinery in working order, whilst 

 all its component parts were being hurried away 

 to regions far remote from the scene of action. 

 I was horror-struck at the thought of having to 

 face the Society and the public with the news 

 that I had lost all the office plant upon which 

 the holding of the show depended, and I had no 

 doubt whatever in my own mind as to the back 

 on which the onus would rest. People don't 

 trouble to go into details in such matters, and it 

 would be simply said that the Society had a pretty 

 fool of a secretary when he couldn't even organize 

 the safe conveyance of his own office plant over a 

 few miles of railway. My whole future depended 

 upon the early discovery of that horse-box, and 

 yet no one could even guess where it was. Tele- 

 grams were despatched to every possible quarter, 

 but all in vain. I would have sacrificed a whole 

 year's salary to get hold of it. 



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