Oh, that was the
life.... Nights, after our performance, we'd get a note: 'Will be
waiting for you at such and such a cafe.' We'd go there and find one
of your high-life women, a whimsical creature who'd invite a fellow to
supper... and to all the rest. But other gymnasts came to the Empress
Circus; the novelty of our act wore off, and the impresario, a Yankee
who owned several companies, asked Perez and me if we wanted to go to
Cuba. 'Right ahead,' said I. 'All right.'"
"Have you been in Cuba?" asked Roberto, roused from his abstraction.
"I've been in so many places!" replied the Snake-Man. "We embarked at
Havre," continued Don Alonso, "on a vessel called the Navarre, and we
were in Havana for about eight months; while we were performing there
we struck it big, Perez and I, and won twenty thousand gold pesos in
the lottery."
"Twenty thousand duros!" exclaimed Manuel.
"Right-o! The next week we had lost it all, and Perez and I were left
without a centavo. A few days we lived on guava-fruit and yam, until
we fell in with some gymnasts on the Havana wharf who were down on
their uppers. We joined them. They weren't at all bad performers;
among them were acrobats, clowns, pantominists, bar artists, and a
French ecuyere; we formed a company and made a tour through the island
towns; and some magnificent tour that was.
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