QUICK WIT AGAINST NO WIT.
Although the Neka-Wadsworth company had had such a remarkable time in getting to Springfield they found everything all right on their arrival. They had been well billed and heralded in the local papers, and the theatre was packed every night of the stay.
“We have caught the public and no mistake,” said Longfellow Wadsworth.
“I am very thankful,” replied Neka.
The pair were in the box office at the time, and turning to Bindley they asked him how the bank account stood.
“To-morrow it will stand just twenty-four hundred dollars to our credit,” was Bindley’s reply. “Not a bad showing, eh? And the season is still young.”
“I should say it was a very good showing,” replied the boy Fire King. “If this keeps on we’ll be millionaires in no time.”
“We’ll catch more or less of a frost before the season is ended,” smiled Bindley. “We must expect it.”
A “frost” to theatrical people is poor business. Bindley knew that they could not continue to make money at every place at which they stopped. Even the best of companies occasionally lose money at certain stands. No route can be laid out that will bring uniform success.
From Springfield the company worked its way to Chicago and Milwaukee, and then over into Lansing, Detroit, Sandusky, Toledo, and on to Cleveland. At first Bindley had thought to go farther west, but good offers were received from places in New York State, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and it was determined not to go farther west until the following season.
It was in Cleveland that Neka had a remarkable experience which left an impression on his mind for many weeks afterward, and often caused him terrible dreams. He had become accustomed to surprises, but this was so far out of the ordinary it was not to be easily forgotten.
It was on Saturday night, the last performance to be given in Cleveland. The theatre was fairly jammed, even standing-room being at a premium. All the company were in the best of spirits and the performance promised to pass off with its usual smoothness.
When Neka came on to perform with his wonderful Bath of Living Fire trick he noticed a peculiar-looking old man sitting in the front row of seats, directly in the rear of the leading violinist of the orchestra.
The man’s face was so striking that Neka would have noticed him had he sat perfectly still, but instead of doing this the old man squirmed from one side of his seat to the other, and clasped and unclasped his hands as if in the most intense excitement.
The persons on either side of the man were evidently with him, and from time to time they spoke soothingly to him and attempted to clasp him by the hands. But he would not listen to them and flung them off.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen,” began Neka. “I am about to take a bath, and it will refresh me greatly, I can assure you. See how the fire rolls up! See how delightful to the touch it is!”
As Neka spoke he plunged his hands into a bowl filled with reddish flames, and brought some of the fire out. Then he began to bathe his face in the flames.
He had scarcely touched his forehead when the old man in the orchestra seat leaped to his feet. The two men with him tried to hold him back, but they were powerless to do so. In two bounds he cleared the players before him, and sprang over the footlights.
“I knew you were the Old Nick,” he cried. “You can’t play with the fire from the infernal regions here! I will banish you!”
And putting his hand inside of his coat the old man brought out an old-fashioned Turkish scimiter and waved it wildly over his head.
“Look out!” yelled one of his attendants. “He has one of his crazy fits on!”
“Ha! say not I am crazy!” stormed the old man. “I am the defender of the world. Go back to your regions of darkness, you imp of night!”
He made a savage rush at Neka, who very promptly retreated. The young Fire King saw now that the man was insane, and should never have been allowed to come to such a performance, even when accompanied by two attendants.
“Go back to your seat,” commanded Neka, as sternly as he could. “Go back and I will argue with you later.”
“Back? Never, you imp! I will kill you and thus free the world! They told me you had come to town, you, the Fire King, and I sharpened my sword in secret. I will have your heart’s blood!”
Again he rushed at Neka and again the lad attempted to retreat. By this time the attendants were on the stage, and the whole house was in an uproar.
The boy tripped over some of his paraphernalia lying by, and fell on his back. As quick as a flash the insane man was on top of him with upraised scimiter, ready to strike a real fatal blow.
For one single second Neka thought his last hour on earth had come. The next he grew strangely calm.
“Wipe the molasses off your sword,” he said, sternly. “Ain’t you ashamed of yourself?”
Surprised by those totally unexpected words, the insane man dropped back on his knees and lowered his scimiter to examine it. The moment he did this Neka rolled out of his reach, and the two attendants fell upon their charge in the rear.
A fierce hand-to-hand struggle ensued. But the attendants were powerful young fellows, and they speedily brought the insane creature to submission and disarmed him. This done the crazy man began to weep like a little child, and thus weeping he was led to a coach and driven off.
The next morning Neka learned that the insane man was very rich, and was usually confined in a private sanitarium close by. He had begged to be allowed to attend the theatre, and had promised to sit perfectly quiet throughout the performance.
His relatives were very sorry for the disturbance he had created. They sent a check to Neka for one hundred dollars, which the lad promptly returned, along with a note, stating that they had better keep the man behind locked doors in the future. Neka thought a hundred dollars no compensation for the fright he had sustained, and his companions agreed with him.
The incident advertised the company extensively. Some people thought the scene a “put up job,” but the reporters knew the rich crazy man too well, and they gave nothing but facts, and as a result the company did a bigger business than ever when it went to Buffalo.