THE COUNTBY BOY 149 



believer in Governor Pennoyer, and that was 

 my only chance for getting any money. I 

 showed the editor Governor Pennoyer's letter 

 and told him I was almost starving in a great 

 city like New Orleans. The editor looked 

 thoughtfully for a moment, more thoughtful 

 than editors generally look, then he handed me 

 a blank draft and asked me if I would fill it 

 out. 



I took the pen, asked him the day of the 

 month and I think the year; he told me and 

 then there was a long pause. I had to tell 

 him that I couldn't fill it out. He laughed 

 and said, "Young man, you just saved your 

 bacon. If you had filled in that, I wouldn't 

 have paid a cent. But," he said, "I'll take a 

 chance for fifty." So the editor filled it out 

 and I signed it and he endorsed it, and the 

 bank cashier paid me $50. 



I felt so thankful that I offered to give the 

 editor one of the roosters that I had at the St. 

 Charles, but he declined with thanks. I bade 

 him an affectionate good-bye and in five hours 

 was aboard the train for Portland, Oregon, 

 with an alligator, two gamecocks and sketches 

 of a championship fight, and in five days was 



