by Charles King
CHAPTER XXVI.
_THE FAKIRS' PARTY._
The idea of a party in the museum tent, where there would be no guestssave fakirs, struck Teddy as being very comical, and he laughed heartilydespite the fact that he was still virtually a prisoner in the meshes ofthe law; but at the same time he did not think Mr. Sweet was really inearnest when he made the proposition.
It was not many moments, however, before he understood that the partywas to be given in the most elaborate manner possible.
On arriving at the tent Mr. Sweet sent the bouncer out with invitationsto such of the fakirs as remained on the grounds all night, or lived inthe immediate vicinity, and at the same time the clown started for thetown in order to purchase refreshments.
"Now, you boys are to take right hold an' help the best you know how,"the proprietor of the museum said as he pulled off his coat and vestpreparatory to making ready for the feast. "If them as comes want to sitdown it must be on the ground, owing to the lack of chairs, thereforeit don't make much difference if the table is a trifle high."
"We have only one knife," said Mr. Sweet, to theamusement of the boys, "and it must serve for all hands."]
To the surprise of the boys he proceeded to convert the wagon into a"festal board" by first pulling it into the center of the tent, and thenremoving the sides. Over the floor of this newspapers were spread, andtwo plates, three forks, one knife, and four tin dippers were placed onthe impromptu cloth.
"The provisions will be cut ready for eating," Mr. Sweet explained, "soone knife must serve for all hands, and it won't hurt any of the crowdif they're obliged to take turns using the dippers."
The clown returned before the guests began to assemble. He brought coldsausage, sliced ham, cold fried potatoes, sweet crackers, cake, pie, anda quantity of lemons and sugar.
Contrary to his expectations, Mr. Sweet did not think this assortmentsufficient for the kind of a dinner he proposed to give, and themessenger was forced to return in search of cheese, pickled pig's feet,sardines, and milk for the coffee.
Matters were in a decided state of confusion when the first of theguests arrived. Mr. Sweet, not troubled by the absence of dishes, hadplaced the various articles on the wagon-table in the brown papercoverings as they had been received, and it was upon his skill as amaker of coffee that he based his reputation as a host.
Therefore everything was neglected for this one important thing, and theproprietor was standing over the oil stove with a look of graveresponsibility on his face when the owner of the envelope game and hisassistant arrived.
"The boys will take care of you," he said, hurriedly, bending over thehuge pot to inhale the odor, in order to know exactly how the berrieswere adapting themselves to the infusion, and, much to his surprise,Teddy found himself the one especial feature of the party.
All on the ground had evidently heard of his arrest, for each newarrival asked concerning the events of the evening, and, what was moreto the purpose, so far as he was concerned, all seemed to think histroubles were only temporary.
"You'll come out of it all right," the manager of the largest sandwichbooth said, confidently, as he entered with his hat on one side of hishead and a cigar held in his mouth at an angle of forty-five degrees. "Iheard of your uncle last year, when he tried to make trouble for afriend of mine in the spittoon game, an' you can bet your bottom dollarthat the people here are not going to take much stock in what he says."
"It seems they did, so far as to issue a warrant for my arrest," Teddyreplied, with a mirthless smile.
"But that won't amount to anything. I hear you have got John Reaves asa friend, an' he comes pretty near runnin' things to suit himself inPeach Bottom. He helped my friend out of the scrape your uncle put himinto, an' folks say there's no love lost between him an' NathanHargreaves."
"I want to get out of my trouble simply on the ground that I am notguilty," Teddy replied. "If I am charged with aiding burglars, there'sprecious little consolation in being set free simply because people donot like the man who made the charge."
"Nobody believes you guilty, and for the matter of that I'm certainHazelton had nothing to do with the job. His game ain't exactly square;but he don't go around breaking into stores."
Teddy was on the point of telling that Long Jim had been arrestedbecause of the burglaries committed; but he remembered in time that thisfact was as yet a secret, and remained silent.
The man who leased the only "Great African Dodger" was the next toarrive, and he also seemed to think it necessary to condole with theyoung fakir in his troubles, as did the remainder of the guests, and bythe time all were assembled Teddy began to think his experience was onlysuch as every other person in the tent had undergone at some time in hiscareer.
"You see this is the way the matter stands," the whip man said,confidentially, while Mr. Sweet was bending all his energies to mixingthe lemonade. "People think fakirs are the worst class of men in theworld, whereas, if the matter was sifted right down, they'd find theclass as a whole was honest because they couldn't afford to beotherwise. I'm not talking now about those who run strong games, likeHazelton; but ourselves who do a legitimate business. You've got canesan' knives to sell, while I deal in whips; now all we want is a fairshow to dispose of our goods, an' we know everything must be done on thesquare, or there's bound to be trouble sooner or later, consequently wekeep straight, an' take all the abuse which those who have come toswindle the folks deserve. Why, what, I ask you, would the managers ofthese fairs do if they couldn't get us to come up with our money forprivileges? They couldn't pay expenses, an' that's the whole amount ofthe story. They run after us, an' yet when we come there's the same oldhowl about swindlers."
The man talked until he was literally forced to stop for lack of breath,and Teddy had not so much as spoken; but proved a good listener, whichwas all his condoler appeared to expect of him.
When the clown returned with the last installment of eatables there wasnothing to prevent the assembled crowd from partaking of Mr. Sweet'shospitality. The coffee was done to a turn; the lemonade was neither toosour nor too sweet, and the proprietor of the museum summoned hisguests to the feast by saying:
"Now turn to an' fill yourselves up. It ain't often I do this sort ofthing; but somehow or other I've got a reg'lar admiration for ourcane-board fakir, an' after comin' out as he has to-night it seems onlyright we should kinder spread ourselves. There's no liquor in the tent,which is as it should be, for I'm a temperance man, an' them as wants itcan make hogs of themselves somewhere else. Take hold hearty, an'remember that this layout is in honor of them as did a good turn to thewhole gang by savin' the lives of the women what would likely havedrowned if there hadn't been any fakirs in the country."
This was an unusually long speech for the proprietor of the museum, andwhen it was ended he set an example to his guests by attacking theeatables as if he had not indulged in a square meal since the fair wasopened.
Each person present imitated him, and Tim whispered to Teddy, when hismouth was so full of cake that it was only with the greatest difficultyhis words could be understood:
"This is what I call a great snap, an' when I've been fakin' at thefairs long enough to get some money ahead I'll give fellers like us agood chance to fill up, the same as Mr. Sweet has done."
Dan was equally enthusiastic. In all his experience, which extendedover two years at the very least, he declared that he had never seen somuch done for a boy, and concluded by saying:
"There's no question, Teddy, but that you're a big gun here, an' I'lladvise you to keep right on in this business."
"I've had enough of it," was the reply. "Such times as these are verynice; but think of what may happen when I'm brought up for trial. Whoknows but Uncle Nathan can succeed in makin' folks think I'm guilty ofhelpin' the burglars, an' then what'll be the consequences?"
"I know he can't do anything of the kind, an' that's enough," was theconfident reply; but yet it failed to satisfy the boy who had been boundover to appea
r at court.
The entire party appeared to be having the jolliest kind of a jollytime; but ever before Teddy's mental vision came the picture of himselfin prison, and even the fact that Long Jim had been arrested failed torender him confident as to the final result.
Again and again was he called upon to reply as one after another wishedhim good luck in the case, and the amount of lemonade which was consumedon each occasion caused the clown to make a third visit to the town inorder to purchase the wherewithal to satisfy the demands of the guests.
It was nearly midnight when the last of the revelers departed and theboys were called upon to help set the interior of the tent to rights.
"It hasn't been sich a bad time after all," Mr. Sweet said, musingly, asTeddy and Dan aided him in wheeling the wagon into place. "A man canremember an evening like this with pleasure, when liquor has been keptout of the bill of fare, an' who shall say that we're not better offthan if our legs were so tangled as to make walking an impossibility?"
The barker's red nose was slightly elevated, much as if its owner couldexplain why spirits were superior to lemon-juice and water; but Mr.Sweet's question remained unanswered, and the party set about making thefinal preparations for the night.
"Poor Sam ain't here to be troubled by the goat, so we can set himloose," the proprietor of the museum said as he unfastened the rope fromthe neck of his pet.
"He'll have a great time pickin' up odds an' ends between now an'daylight, an' then feel so lazy that it'll be hard work to make him dohis tricks."
"Do you suppose Uncle Nathan will be around in the morning?" Teddy askedas he lay down by the side of Dan and Tim.
"Not a bit of it; he got sich a dose to-night that I don't count onseem' him ag'in till this fair is ended, an' then I'm going to take atrip over to the Run for the express purpose of givin' him a piece ofmy mind."
"But suppose he should come, what shall I say?"
"Pay no attention to the old fool, an' above all, don't let him trap youinto talking. Mr. Harvey will be here to-morrow, an' he can post youbetter than ever I could."
"Don't fuss about the thing at all," Dan replied, philosophically."There's plenty here who know you hadn't anything to do with theburglaries, an' he won't have as much as a friend by the time the trialis ended."
"Dan comes pretty nigh being right," Mr. Sweet added, "an' now I wantall hands to go to sleep, for there's one more day of this fair, an' weneed to be somewhere near fresh, because to-morrow the dollars won'ttumble without a good deal of coaxing. Good-night."