flung the last of his chips at the roulette wheel that Pop Sorber was personally
operating
"Keep 'em!" snarled Drago. "You're chiseler enough to deserve 'em. Picking
up a little side money for yourself by canceling a date in one town and hauling
us a hundred and fifty miles to another."
"It wasn't my fault," argued Pop, as he gathered the chips so he could spin
the wheel. "How did I know that Kid Klaudey was going to muff the fix in Newtown
and send us on to Hilldale?"
"It's your business to know." This came from Benzone, the knife-thrower, as
he stacked some chips for a four-number play. "Kid Klaudey is only the advance
man."
"That gives me an idea," put in Panchini, the tattooed man. "What this show
needs is a new advance man."
"Kid Klaudey is all right," exploded Pop as he spun the wheel and tossed
the ball. "Best advance agent in the business. Answer that one."
The answer came just as the ball was clattering into a pocket. It was
Pythias who gave it.
"What this outfit really needs," announced Pythias, "is a new manager."
Pop Sorber turned angrily toward Pythias, bringing his big fists to a
clench. As suddenly he relaxed, though his face showed a wince. He couldn't even
be sure that Pythias had made the pointed comment. It might have been his twin
brother, Damon. The two looked alike and spoke alike. They were always together
and always had been, for they were the Inseparable Twins.
Siamese Twins, some people called them, but they preferred the title
"Inseparable" because they weren't natives of Siam like the original twins that
Barnum had first introduced to the American public. They sat on two chairs close
together; Damon and Pythias, because they themselves were very close. Damon had
a right hip, Pythias a left hip, and they shared a middle hip from which they
both sprouted.
Otherwise the Inseparable Twins were normal and rather handsome with their
dark eyes and tawny faces. When one grinned so did the other, in a very
disarming style which they demonstrated at present for Pop's benefit. As an
added gag, Damon reached across to look at his brother's wrist watch while
Pythias used his right hand to pluck another timepiece from Damon's vest pocket.
Double-checking the time, the pair chimed in a voice that sounded like one:
"This must be Hilldale."
The other freaks began to rise and the Inseparable Twins followed. They
managed it quite readily and each buttoned his portion of the curious double
coat that came together in a joined waist. Their companions, meanwhile, were
following up the smart suggestion that one Inseparable had given.
"To get a new manager," observed Drago, "you'd have to talk to the real
owner."
"Whoever he is," argued Benzone, "or if you could find him, if you knew."
"I'd say he was Kid Klaudey," put in Panchini. "If the Kid is as smart as
Pop gives him credit, he ought to have saved enough dough to buy up this
freight-load of wreckage."
Gathering in the chips that he had won on the final spin, Pop Sorber
neither denied nor admitted the impeachment. He simply maintained his stout
defense of Klaudey.
"The Kid is all right," claimed Pop. "It wasn't his fault that the fix was
