16 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 
cutta in pawn, that is to say, he paid as much as 
he had and the steamship company took a lien on 
his show or chattels, and if the agent at the port 
of disembarkment was satisfied, he could put up his 
tent and show, the steamship agent taking the re- 
ceipts with interest until the freight and passage 
money was collected. I happened to be in Singa- 
pore at the time and was told a circus had just 
arrived from Calcutta—“Bert Wilison’s African 
Circus and Equine Paradox.” I was wondering 
who’s it could be, as I had never heard of my old 
friend’s rise to proprietor of a show. 
I made up my mind to see him, if not for busi- 
ness then as an old showman, never dreaming I 
was to meet an old friend. The surprise and pleas- 
ure was mutual at our meeting, after an absence 
of nearly fourteen years. The last time we were 
together was in Buenos Ayres. As I was dressed 
in an old suit of khaki, I looked to him as if I 
were stranded. “Well, Charley,” he said, “I’m 
broke, too, but I’ll manage to fix you somehow and 
get you out of here. You come with me, old boy, 
we'll share what’s left of the old show.” 
I thanked him and said that I was not as badly 
off as I appeared, but had been in the animal busi- 
ness for a number of years, was settled and pretty 
well known in Singapore, and if I could be of 
assistance to him, it was his for the asking. 
“Well, Mayer, to tell the truth, I’m in hock with 
the steamship people. I have not enough to pay 
