ADVENTURES AT A FAIR.

As much as Neka wished to talk matters over with Longfellow Wadsworth, there was no time to do so now. The audience were growing highly impatient, and several cries of “humbug,” “fraud,” and so forth had been raised.

“Get ready as quickly as you can,” said the elocutionist. “I will make an apology for the delay.”

He slipped out on the stage, and, coming forward, laid his hand on his heart and bowed profoundly.

“Ladies and gentlemen: No one regrets this delay more than do I and my distinguished fellow performer, Professor Neka. But accidents will happen in the best of families, some one has said, and when they do happen we must make the best of them. In bringing our numerous trunks to this hall the drayman accidentally let slip one containing the most important paraphernalia belonging to Professor Neka, and, in consequence, many of his things were sadly shattered, involving a loss of several hundred dollars. But the professor, with his accustomed courage to meet adverses, has gone bravely to work to mend matters, and will be ready to give you one of the grandest exhibitions of fire tricks ever seen on any stage in a few minutes more. In the meantime I will crave your indulgence, and beg leave to recite a humorous selection, entitled, ‘Murphy’s Tailless Cow.’”

This little speech was well received, and the recitation was applauded. By the time Longfellow Wadsworth had finished, Neka was ready to go on.

The boy was nervous, yet he did not allow this to mar his performance. He came on the stage with a grand flourish, and executed his fiery ribbon evolution amid vigorous handclappings.

“He’s all right!”

“No fake about that!”

“The folks in Chambersburgh said he was a wonder, and they are about right.”

This evening Neka had a new trick in view. He had purchased several daggers of iron. These he heated red-hot, then, advancing to the footlights, began to joggle them into the air with his bare hands. A storm of applause showed how well this new trick was received.

“We have caught them, just as we caught the folks at Chambersburgh,” observed Longfellow Wadsworth, when they were closing up. “What a pity a place like this is not large enough to exhibit for several nights.”

Neka was silent on this subject, his head being filled with thoughts concerning Daniel Bambo. The elocutionist was quick to surmise what the trouble was.

“Don’t you worry about him, Neka,” he said. “I fancy we have him where the hair is good and long instead of short.”

“You said something to him about old Jerry Brown,” said the boy, slowly.

“Yes, and that was where I had him.”

“He appeared greatly alarmed.”

“Yes, it made him cave in. Do you know, I believe I can corner him some day and make him reveal your past,” went on Longfellow Wadsworth, earnestly.

“I wish you could,” replied Neka, and his heart gave a great bound at the thought.

“I don’t believe, at any rate, that he will bother you again in a hurry,” said the elocutionist.

The two talked the matter over on the way to the town tavern, a dingy and old-fashioned place, where they obtained a room together for a dollar.

Early on the following morning they had breakfast, and cast about for some place where they might exhibit on the following evening. Outside of Chambersburgh, only a few small villages were in the vicinity, and it would scarcely pay to open up in them.

“We had better push on to Carmine,” said Longfellow Wadsworth. “I see by the County _Item_ there is to be a county fair there for three days next week. If we can buy a privilege cheap and hire a tent, it would pay very well to give a sort of continuous performance during fair days.”

“That’s a good idea!” cried Neka. “Under a tent I can tumble as well as execute my fire tricks.”

“And I can take a hand at exhorting the folks to come in and see our wonderful exhibition, my son. I once traveled, in my younger days, for a circus side show, and had a neat speech which I have not forgotten. It ran something like this:”

The elocutionist waved his hands grandly, as though addressing a vast multitude.

“‘Walk up, tumble up, crawl up, any way to get up, kind people, and enter and behold the wonders we have spread for your inspection. The greatest and most glorious and mystifying combination of wonders on the face of the terrestrial globe! You may travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and see none that will equal this stupendous and magnificent olla-podrida of good things, and all for the small sum of one dime, the insignificant ten cents. If you miss this unparalleled opportunity you will regret it for the remainder of your life, so walk up at once and thus get ahead of the great crowd that is now coming on.’

“I tell you, Neka, that used to fetch ’em every time.”

“It ought to,” laughed the boy. “Such a speech is better than blowing a horn or beating a bass drum.”

Just as they were about to leave Lock Haven, an elderly man, accompanied by a young lady, drove up in a T-cart and got out. They made an inquiry of the landlord, and then turned to Neka and his companion.

“Mr. Travers tells me you are Professor Wadsworth, the elocutionist,” said the elderly man.

“I have that honor,” replied Longfellow Wadsworth, bowing deeply, and removing his battered tile with a flourish.

“I am James Fordham; this is my daughter, the one that lost the skate bag which you found.”

“Ah, yes--er----”

“My daughter thinks she should acknowledge your service,” went on James Fordham. “Of course, not knowing anything about the ownership of the bag, you had a perfect right to put out the pearls on a loan.”

“Merely a bit of necessity, my dear sir; otherwise I would not have done it,” returned the elocutionist. “You see, we were short of ready cash, and, as there is no bank in town, we could not draw on our New York----”

“It is unnecessary to make explanations, Professor Wadsworth. The truth is, I offered a reward of twenty-five dollars for the recovery of the bag, and my daughter thinks, and I think, too, that you should have the money.”

“I expected no reward, but----” Longfellow Wadsworth hesitated.

He liked to appear indifferent to pecuniary gain, but to lose twenty-five dollars, why, that was not to be thought of.

“You will accept it, please,” said the girl. “I know now you must have found it under the twin chestnut trees on the Chambersburgh road.”

“I did, miss, I did. And if you really insist----”

Longfellow Wadsworth looked longingly at the five crisp five-dollar bills in the elderly gentleman’s hand.

“I do, sir,” said the girl, and a minute after the elocutionist had the money tucked safely in his vest pocket.

A few minutes later the two parties separated, and Neka and his partner set off on their journey to Carmine. A farmer came along with an empty produce wagon, and offered to give them a ride for ten cents each, and this offer was accepted.

“We are growing rich, my son,” cried Longfellow Wadsworth, as he and Neka rode along in the back of the wagon. “Twenty-three dollars last night and twenty-five now make forty-eight, and two I had make an even fifty. Not bad, is it?”

“The twenty-five is yours, professor.”

“No, no; we share and share alike; didn’t I say so before? I am not a second Daniel Bambo, my son. Half the money is yours. Here, take it, lest it be lost and the blame fall on my shoulders.”

“I’ll put it in my shirt, so it won’t be as easy to rob me as it was before,” said Neka. “But tell me, why do you draw the long bow so much?”

“Me? Never, Neka!”

“But you told them about a bank account----”

“Oh, that was a mere figure of speech--it didn’t count.”

“And you said something to the jeweler about those pearls----”

“Another little turn that hurt nobody.”

“I don’t like that.”

“Don’t be too particular in this life, my son.” Longfellow Wadsworth was for the moment irritated, but as quickly recovered his good humor. “Let us change the subject.”

And then he spoke of the fair and of their future plans, and so the talk about the elocutionist’s shortcoming was dropped. But it was plain to see that Neka’s idea of right and wrong were of a finer and higher grade than those of his companion.

Carmine was reached in half an hour, and a few minutes later they found themselves at the entrance to the fair grounds, which were inclosed by a high board fence.

To the man at the gate Longfellow Wadsworth explained their mission, and they were readily admitted. They looked over the grounds, sized up the attractions offered, and finally made up their minds to locate, providing they could rent a suitable tent.

They took a walk among the other “fakirs,” as all show people are called at a fair, and soon met the owner of a trained animal exhibition who had an extra tent he would let for three dollars a day. The tent was twenty feet wide by fifty feet long, and though rather small, Neka and his partner thought they could make it do. They hired the outfit, leased a promising spot, and lost no time in getting ready. The day was Saturday, and the fair was to open bright and early the following Monday morning.