“Magnífico!” cried the barber, instantly transformed from the depths of gloom to the summits of glee, “A thousand thanks. That will be $600 in billetes of Colombia. I will get it at once....”
“It will be simpler,” I suggested, “to wait until you hear the check has arrived; then send it to me. Naturally I am running no risk in trusting one of the chief men of San Pablo. Anyway, it would only be in payment for our magnificent lodgings.”
The Colombian rarely needs much urging to accept a favor, and his formal protests soon died away. I sat down to write the check:
The Fake Bank,
920 West 110th Street
New York, U. S. A.
Pay to the order of the
Chirological College of
Los Angeles, Cal.,
the sum of six dollars ($6).