Part 9 (1/2)

Rosie turned dutifully, but with a weary expression on his face

”I fine you eleven dollars and fifty cents That's about what the tickets will coo Send Rain-in-the-Face here!”

The intervieith Rain-in-the-Face sounded not unlike a series of explosions to those out in the rin, and each man expected it would be his turn next

”Coo outside and talk,” said Conley

”I should think you _would_ want to get away from it all,”

answered Phil ”I don't knohether I can stand this sort of thing or not”

”You'll get used to it after awhile”

”So Link, disuess the freak is right,” nodded Billy Conley ”There is going to be an explosion here that will shake the state”

There was, but not exactly in the way he iined

CHAPTER V

THE MIDNIGHT ALARM

”Now tell me, if you will, what the routine of the work on an advance car is,” said Phil after he and Billy had sat down beside the tracks

”It would take all night to do that, but I'll give you a few pointers and the rest you will have to pick up for yourself

In the first place an advertising car includes billposters, lithographers, banner ht, but it doesn't hed Phil

”The billposters post the large bills on the billboards, and anywhere else that they can get a chance, mostly out in the country and in the country towns In places where there is a regular billposter, he does that work for us Any boards not owned by a billposter, or a barn or a pigpen or a henhouse on the road is called a 'daub' At least two tickets are given for every place we put a piece of paper on These tickets are nuned Now, if a fellow out in Kankakee, ill say, should chance to tear down the bill, when he presented his ticket at the gate on the day of the show, it would be refused

He'd pay or stay out”

”But hoould they know he had taken down the poster,”

questioned Phil

”Checkers follow along at intervals and check up every piece of paper we put up We send the record of our work to the car back of us and they in turn send our and their reports to the car behind them”

”It is a wonderful systeo back a little I will say that this is a 'scout car'

or what is known aoes only where there is trouble, where there is opposition

For instance,into this territory, this season, and it is up to us to cover every available space with our paper before their cars get on the ground”

”But will they not paste their bills over yours, over those you have already put up?”