CHAPTER II

I POSE AS A SHOWMAN

Practising conjuring--Why I rarely play cards--The great Maskelyne and Cooke box trick--I make a trick box of my own-- The “Flying Lady” who flew--away--In partnership with Gypsy Brown--My life with the show folk--I begin to make money-- The kings of the fair grounds--Caravan life and cookery--The Romany people and their ways--Gypsy Brown cheats me--How the “bluers” work--Fights in the Fair Ground--The etiquette of the showmen--In a boxing booth--Taking on all comers--A rough life--“Do a slang to get a pitch”--The tricks of the travelling boxing-booth proprietors--A gypsy duel with cocoanut balls 17