24 OCEAN TO OCEAN ON HORSEBACK, 



A royalty which to me at least seemed consistent 

 with the time and labor expended in preparation. I 

 had now spent my last dollar in the Metropolis in 

 pursuit of a publisher, and in this dilemma it was 

 thought best to return to Albany, where I had friends 

 and perhaps some credit, and endeavor to bring out the 

 book by subscription. This course would compel me 

 to assume the cost of production, but if successful 

 w^ould prove much more lucrative than if issued in the 

 usual way through the trade. 



Fully resolved upon retracing my steps to Albany, 

 I was most fortunate in meeting an old comrade and 

 friend to whom I frankly stated my plans and circum- 

 stances. He immediately loaned me twenty dollars 

 with which to continue my search for a publisher and 

 to meet in the meantime necessary current expenses. 



On reaching Albany an attic room and meals were 

 secured for a trifling sum, arrangements made with a 

 publisher, and the work of getting out the book begun. 

 While the printer was engaged in composing, stereo- 

 typing, printing and binding the work, I employed 

 my spare time in a door-to-door canvass of the city for 

 subscriptions, promising to deliver on the orders as 

 soon as the books came from the press. In this way 

 the start w'as made and before the close of the year 

 hundreds of agencies w^ere established throughout the 

 country. 



The venture proved successful beyond my most san- 

 guine expectations, and where I had expected to dis- 

 pose of two or three editions and to realize a few hun- 

 dred dollars from the sale of " Capture, Prison-Pen 

 and Escape," the book had a sale of over 400,000 

 copies and netted me $75,000. This remarkable suc' 



