CHAPTER III
MAKING PLANS
Frank managed to grasp the coat of the wild-eyed man who seemed so bent on rushing into danger. The slightly bruised arm of the young motion picture owner gave a twinge as he exerted his strength, but he did not desist.
"Hold on! What do you want to do? Get yourself killed?" demanded Frank, as he pulled the man toward him.
"I—I—oh, I don't know!" was the surprising answer. The man fairly stumbled against Frank, so great was the force of the pull exerted by the lad. And, as the stranger thus came in closer proximity to him, the youth had a chance to look at him more intently, though it was but a fleeting moment ere the automobile rushed past, its mud-guards grazing the man Frank had saved.
The youth had undoubtedly saved the man from severe injury, if not death. The automobile, a big limousine, was going at a pace that would have precluded the chauffeur from stopping it, and as it was rounding a curve, and there were other vehicles on the outside, there was no chance to turn out of the way.
"You should watch where you are going," was Frank's warning. He looked at the man, and, among other things, saw that he was without a collar or necktie. This might not have been so remarkable had it not been for the fact that the man was otherwise well dressed, though his garments showed the need of brushing and pressing.
One other thing impressed Frank: the man had on one black shoe and one tan-colored one, forming a strange contrast. But Frank, after the first quick glance, which took in these oddities in the man's attire, was most attracted and surprised by the look on his face.
"If ever there was wild-eyed despair and anguish written on a man's face I saw it there," Frank said afterward in telling of the occurrence. "The man seemed to have lost all hope."
Frank was used to dramatic episodes. He saw enough of them in the motion pictures thrown daily on the screen in the theatres, but he was not so hardened but what this scene affected him.
"Didn't you see that auto?" he asked of the man, as he released his grip on the coat sleeve, and picked up the satchel he himself had dropped.
"No, I didn't see it, and I—I don't much care! I might just as well be dead as in the fix I'm in. Oh, why didn't you let me go?" he begged, piteously.
"Don't talk that way!" said Frank, sharply.
"Oh, I'm thankful to you, of course," the man went on. "But I——"
A policeman strolled up, drawn by the little crowd.
"What's wrong?" the officer asked, curiously.
"Oh, it's all right now," Frank said, with a smile. "This gentleman was in too much of a hurry, and tried to get in the way of an automobile. This is a busy corner!"
"Indeed it is, young man," agreed the officer. "Not hurt; are you, sir?" and he looked at the man Frank had saved. Then the oddity of the stranger's attire impressed the policeman, and he winked his left eye at Frank, as though to say that the individual might be "a little off in the upper story," as Hank Strapp expressed it later, on hearing the tale.
"Oh, no, I'm not hurt, thanks to this young man," responded the stranger. Then he mumbled something to himself, and put his hand to his head in a dazed sort of way. A moment later he pulled away from the light grasp Frank had, almost unconsciously, held on his arm, and darted across the street.
Before he went he suddenly exclaimed:
"Maybe there's a chance yet! I must save it before they get it all, or I shall be ruined. I never will dare go back and face him! Oh, what a loss! What a loss!"
He darted across the street, under the very noses of cab horses, and right in front of several autos, one of which drew up with such a sharp application of brakes that the big rubber tires slid on the pavement.
The officer and Frank looked at one another knowingly.
"Something queer, there," remarked Frank.
"I should say so," agreed the policeman. "Did you take note of his shoes—one black and the other tan?"
"Yes; and without a collar or tie," added Frank. "He surely is wrong somewhere."
Then the youth passed on, the officer went back to his post, and Frank almost forgot the incident, though it was destined to have a strange effect on his future.
"Well, what about your exposition plans?" asked Randy, when Frank returned to the Empire office.
"Yes, let us hear something," added Pep. "If we're going to do business out there we'd better get started."
"Well, of course I haven't it all worked out yet," replied Frank, "and, as was the case with all the plans we have made, this one is also subject to the approval of you three," and he looked at his friends. In times past they had done nothing without acting in perfect harmony, and though often one of the boys would be set on doing something, he gave it up if there was not an unanimous vote in its favor. Perhaps this explained the success of the motion picture chums.
"Oh, we'll be in favor of it, if there's any money to be made at it—provided, of course, that it's all right," said Randy.
"Sure thing!" agreed Pep. "What's the matter with your arm?" he asked, as he noticed Frank wince a little. "Strain it carrying so much money to the bank?"
"Not exactly," answered his chum, "though it was in the bank it happened," and he told of the Royston incident, and also of having saved the apparently demented man from injury.
"Say, you're getting as exciting as a moving picture reel yourself," spoke Hank. "First you bang into an angry man, and then into a lunatic. But sit down and tell us what's what."
"It's simple enough to tell," replied Frank, as he looked over some mail that had come in. "I thought if we could get a concession in the amusement Zone at the exposition, we could open a motion picture theatre there and make some good cash during the months the big fair is under way."
"Would you have that extra big organ I spoke of?" asked Ben Jolly, for he had come into the office during an intermission. "I've gotten so used to this one here that I wouldn't know how to get along without one."
"Oh, yes, I guess we'll have to get you the new organ," agreed Frank, smiling.
"But look here," said Pep. "We'll have to show some pretty classy reels to the kind of audiences we'd cater to out at the fair. We couldn't run that Snakeville stuff, and the 'Dangers of Desdemona' never-ending episodes. The people out there will want more solid meat."
"I agree with you," said Frank. "We'll have to go in for real dramas, played by Broadway stars. With that, and with some foreign things I am negotiating for, I think we could make up a bill that would bring the crowds. Of course we'll have to have humorous stuff, too, and short light comedy reels to fill in with. Now I've done all the talking, and it's up to you fellows. What do you say?"
"I say it's dandy, if I can have a specially made organ and a good effect box," said Ben Jolly.
"I'm willing to invest my share in the plan," agreed Randy.
"It's great! That's what I say!" cried Pep, with his usual impetuosity. "Let's start right off!"
"We haven't heard from Mr. Strapp yet," said Frank, with a smile at the big ranchman.
Strapp slowly uncoiled one leg where it had been crossed over the other. He took from his pocket a newspaper he had been reading, and said impressively:
"Well, boys, I'd like to go in with you, but I don't believe it can be done. You're too late!"
The motion picture chums looked wonderingly at one another. What did the Westerner mean?