Peck's Bad Boy in an airship

by George W. Peck

Pa found a pair of gray pants and a frock coat, and a silk hat, and when he was dressed and had on a white shirt he looked like a senator from South Carolina.

The cowboy found a golf suit, with short pants, long socks, and putty leggins, and a Tam o’ Shanter cap, and he looked like an escaped Scotchman, while I found a Buster Brown suit that fit me, and all I wanted was a dog to be complete, and we went down to breakfast, and made a hit, the family acting as though they were proud to have us in their midst.

During breakfast they all drew Pa out, and he told them of his experiences capturing wild animals in Africa, and exploring the country, and being made king of a tribe, and they called Pa “Your Highness,” and Pa lied enough about his adventures to send him over the road for disorderly conduct.

The women drew out the cowboy, and he lied some on his own account, and the children got me to going, and you know how it is with me when I get to going.

When the breakfast was over we were all heroes, and Pa pulled out a handful of uncut diamonds and spread them on the table by his plate, and gave each one a diamond as big as a hickory nut, and left a lot of smaller ones on the table with the bread crumbs for the servants, and when we left the table the whole family bowed low to us, and stood back until the king and the cowboy and I had passed out on to the veranda.

Gee, but they seemed to think King Edward wouldn’t be ace high to Pa, and Pa swelled up so I thought he might bust.

Pa Swelled Up So I Thought He Might Bust.

After smoking some fifty cigars, Pa told of what cowards lions and tigers were, and how he could take a riding whip and chase a lion up a tree, and the Michigan man proposed to have an exhibit of his wild animals, which he kept in his private forest outside of the clearing. He had a race track in the clearing next to the forest, and told Pa that every morning his herders turned a lot of lions, giraffes, rhinoceroses and zebras into the track, and the family chased them around the track in automobiles, and Pa said he would like to enter into such a race, and the man ordered the herders to turn in the animals.

The cowboy wanted a saddle horse and a lariat rope, and they fixed him out, and when the herders announced that the animals were on the track all right, we got into the waiting autos, the man and Pa lit cigars and sat on the front seat with the chauffeur, and some of us got in the back seats and started out.