CHAPTER XXII
THE THEATRE
"Hush, my dear boy! Don't get so excited, if you please!" cautioned the hospital physician. "You must be quiet," but he smiled at Albert.
"I can't help it. I can't keep quiet when I think how this is going to work out," the lad gleefully said. "It's too good to be true."
Mr. Bullard and the young lawyer looked a bit doubtful.
"Well, Albert, I don't exactly understand you," spoke Mr. Jackson, slowly, and there was weariness in his voice. "I had no idea I could ever get back from that cheat and scoundrel what he took from me. Now you say I can, sir?" and he looked at Mr. Watt.
"I am sure of it—yes, Mr. Jackson."
"Well, now that I can, I have no use for it. It would be impossible for me to run at the concession the exhibition I contemplated. I must give it up."
"You mean you will sell out; don't you, Uncle?"
"Well, yes, I suppose it will come to that, Albert. But I won't sell out to Royston. In fact, he has no money except that which he obtained by swindling me. And I don't know who else would buy my rights."
"Oh, there will be plenty of purchasers, Uncle Henry, but I'll have a say in that," said Albert. "I have some money invested in it; haven't I?"
"Yes, and it was the thought of having lost your funds, as well as my own, that made something seem to snap in my brain," spoke Mr. Jackson. "I shall never forget it."
"Well, don't dwell on it now," advised the doctor. "Remember that you are going to get well."
"But what is your plan, Albert? You haven't told us," his uncle asked.
"I'll sell our concession to my very good friends, the motion picture chums!" cried Albert. "They have been trying to get a place in the Zone, but can't. They are up against it, as Hank Strapp says. Now I can offer them a way out, and, at the same time, repay them for some of their kindness to me. It's the best thing that has come out of all this trouble."
"That's right," agreed Mr. Bullard. "For the moment I forgot about the boys. This concession will be the very thing for them."
"There is no doubt but what I really have rights in it; is there?" asked Mr. Jackson, looking at the papers he had taken from his shoe.
"Not the least," Mr. Watt assured him. "We will oust Royston bag and baggage!"
"Then, Albert, your friends may have the concession," said his uncle. "I am too weak and broken to think of working it."
"And now I fear I must ask you to leave," observed the physician. "My patient must become quieted if he is to make a good recovery, and leave us."
"Will he really be able to go away from here?" Albert wanted to know.
"He will, indeed, and that within a few weeks. He is completely cured. His mind was never anything but temporarily deranged," the doctor went on, when the visitors were going down the corridor. "All he needs now is to have his bodily strength built up, and we can easily do that. He will soon be with you again, though of course he cannot attend actively to business."
"He won't have to," said Mr. Bullard. "He can sell his concession for enough to keep him comfortable until he can become active again. That is, if the motion picture chums will buy it."
"I'm sure we can make a deal," spoke Albert. "I'll give them a bargain in my share."
And you may be sure, when Frank and his chums heard of the chance that had so unexpectedly come to them, they were wild with delight.
"A motion picture theatre in the Panama Exposition Zone at last!" cried Frank.
"Hurray!" shouted Pep, throwing his hat up so that it caught in the electric light chandelier of their sitting room.
"And now we can get busy at last, and not lose all we paid for an option on those valuable films," spoke Randy.
"Good news!" declared Hank Strapp of Montana. "Good news, by heck!"
"And I can have my new pipe organ at last," sighed Ben Jolly. "I'm going to order it now, if I may. I want one with the latest attachments, and I think I can pick up a second-hand one at a bargain."
"Better wait until we oust Royston," suggested Frank.
There was really not much trouble over that. Of course Royston and his cronies blustered and fought, for he had several unprincipled men in with him. He declared he would resist to the end, and his lawyers did begin a fight.
"But they haven't a leg to stand on," said Mr. Watt. "We have everything our own way. Not a court in the land but what would say Mr. Jackson had been cheated by this rascally scoundrel."
The matter was prepared for presentation to a judge, but before the case came to trial the defense withdrew. There was an informal court proceeding, and when Royston was called forward to present his side there was no answer.
"Is this case going to be defended?" the judge asked.
"It is not, your honor," answered a lawyer for the opposing side. "I have just received word that my client, Royston, has left San Francisco suddenly. I am through with him. The case will not be contested."
"Then we get the concession!" cried Albert. "That is, you boys do, for my uncle and I are going to turn it over to you."
"And it will be the Zone Theatre!" exclaimed Frank, "for we will accept your very kind offer."
"And the first thing we'll do!" declared Hank Strapp, "is to rip out that fake wild animal jungle exhibit, and get ready to put in our scenes under the ocean, and marvels of wild animal life films. It will take some changes, though, but we have time enough before the exposition opens."
"We ought to go and thank Mr. Jackson," suggested Pep. "Only for him we wouldn't have a place in the Zone."
"That's right," agreed Randy.
"And I wouldn't have my latest pipe organ," added Ben. "I've got a dandy coming."
The legal formalities were soon complied with, and the Zone concession, that had belonged exclusively to the Jacksons, before Royston illegally obtained control of it, was turned over to the motion picture chums on payment of a certain sum. It was not a small sum, but they had counted on paying well for space, and knew they could make a good profit on their investment.
Meanwhile Mr. Jackson had been taken from the hospital, and installed in a quiet neighborhood with Albert. Then the motion picture chums were invited to call.
They came one afternoon, and were ushered into the presence of the elderly promoter who had suffered so much.
"Boys, this is my uncle," said Albert.
Then, at the sight of the man rising to greet them, Frank uttered a strange cry.
"Why—why!" he exclaimed. "That man—I know him—he—he——"
"And I know you, young man!" said Mr. Jackson, a flush coming into his pale face.