CHAPTER XII 



MY WIFE HOLDS THE GUN 



THANK heaven I have had the right sort of 

 woman to take along with me into the desert 

 and jungle. If ever a man needed a partner in his 

 chosen vocation it has been I. And if ever a wife 

 were a partner to a man, it is Osa Johnson. 



The original travel disease was in me. I ran 

 away when only a youngster and made several trips 

 on cattle boats to Europe. After knocking about 

 there for a while I fell in with Jack London and 

 joined him on his famous cruise to the South Sea 

 Islands in the little Snark. By the time I got back 

 to my home I thought I'd satisfied my wanderlust. 

 I settled down in earnest. 



I built a playhouse there along the lines of the 

 Snark. Those were the days before the moving 

 pictiu"e had come into its own. Vaudeville was still 

 more important than the pictures. My chief busi- 

 ness rival ran a theatre on the other side of town. I 

 figured his success came from having a wife who 

 could sing. Nothing should do but that I meet this 



competition by securing a singer. 



208 



