Roughriding Rover Boys

After that, the boys went on the vaudeville circuit for six weeks, finally making some real money. And then it was off to school. "It was pretty hard to take for a while," Temple says, "but we did get used to it."

Jack Abernathy dabbled in motion pictures for a time and later went into the oil business as a wildcatter. He had given up his position of marshal once the careers of his sons showed promise. He died in 1941 at 65 in Long Beach, Calif.

Louie went to law school and ended up an attorney. He is now in a nursing home in Austin, Texas. Temple followed his father into the oil business, working as a lease scout and driller. At 72, he lives quietly in a small town in central Texas. Except maybe it isn't all over for him. He's got some shallow oil wells located and he would like to develop them to get extra money. He wants to buy an airplane and single-hand it across the United States.