LOTS OF EXCITEMENT.
After all that excitement, Tubby could not immediately tear himself away
from his chums.
“Why, seems as if all the sleep had been chased out of my eyes!” he
declared, as he once more composedly sat down; and of course a general
discussion took place in connection with their past experiences with
Jared Applegate.
In the end they had to fairly pry Tubby away from that chair, and put him
out of the door, in a friendly scuffle; he protesting to the last that as
he had no expectation of getting a wink of sleep that night, there was no
need of hurrying.
“Why, it’s half-past eleven right now,” Andy told him. “We’ll be a nice
lot of blinking owls to-morrow unless we hit the hay in a hurry. You come
back when you promised, and join the bunch. Good-night, Tubby!”
With that the door was closed, and of course the unwilling Tubby found
there was no use trying to change the program; so he headed for the
elevator, smothering a tremendous yawn by the way.
He made his appearance promptly on time when morning came, and they
started for the Exposition grounds in a squad, all of them filled with
lively anticipations of another great day of sight-seeing.
Of course the most anxious one of the company was Hiram. His business had
not as yet come to a focus, and he was not at all certain how it might
turn out. The others did not wish to hurry him unduly, for they knew
Hiram to be very set in his ways; but at the same time they gave him
plain hints that he would be unwise to wait too long.
“They’re expecting me any day now,” Hiram had explained in answer to
these remonstrances, “and I’m just keepin’ ’em on the fence, you see.
When I kinder guess the time’s ripe I’ll drop in on the company and tell
’em who I happen to be.”
“Hiram means he’s engineering a sort of climax,” explained Andy; “but the
rest of us will be as mad as hops if he pulls the thing off without
giving us a chance to see the fun.”
“You wouldn’t be so mean as that, I hope, Hiram?” pleaded Tubby.
“What d’ye take me for?” the other had exclaimed, in seeming indignation.
“Guess I ought to know what my duty to my chums is. You’ll all have front
seats on the band wagon when the music begins. Consider that as good as
settled, Tubby. I’m having an extra big chair fixed for you, too, so
you’ll be comfy.”
Tubby beamed his gratitude, and as they had arrived at the turnstile by
that time the subject was dropped.
It was decided that they should keep together, for a while at least,
though anyone could see that Hiram was wild to hurry over to where the
Golden Gate Aviation Supply Company had its headquarters adjoining the
field where the airships gave frequent exhibitions.
The crowd had not begun to make itself felt as yet, so that they found
splendid opportunities to inspect numerous things that attracted their
attention in some of the many immense Fair buildings.
An hour was spent among the pictures in the art building. Rob enjoyed
this, for he was very fond of paintings, and at some future date he meant
to put in a whole morning here.
Tubby soon tired of it, and as for Hiram it seemed to be pretty much of a
bore. One whose heart and mind were wrapped up with all sorts of
inventions could not be expected to content himself gazing upon works of
art; they were too tame for his spirit; what Hiram delighted in was the
whirr of machinery, the clack of the aëroplane propeller, and kindred
objects that meant real _work_ for him.
Just how it happened that about the middle of the morning they found
themselves once more treading the devious ways of the Amusement Zone
neither Rob nor Tubby nor Hiram could somehow understand. They dimly
suspected, however, that the artful Andy must have managed to coax them
in that quarter under a specious plea that he wanted to show them
something wonderful.
The first thing they knew they were seated in chairs on the moving
platform, and viewing the scenery along the stretch of the Panama Canal,
which had a very realistic look for those who had been there themselves.
Each chair had a dictaphone attachment connected with the arm, and by
applying this in the proper manner to their ears the occupants were
enabled to hear a description of each section of the great ditch as it
was reached.
Taken in all, it was a novel experience, and one they enjoyed very much;
though in the end it required the strength of the other three scouts to
drag poor Tubby out of his chair, which happened not to have been
capacious enough for the standard requirements of the fat boy.
“Honestly,” said Tubby, in explanation of his sticking so tight, “I
believe some skunk went and put a piece of shoemakers’ wax in that chair;
and I feel that I’m lucky to have saved the seat of my new khaki
trousers. If it had been the old ones there’s no telling what might have
happened.”
“H’m! a poor excuse is better than none, they say,” muttered Andy; “but
seems like instead of calling these chairs comfortable they might have
added that they were the ‘Fat Man’s Misery.’ But forget it, Tubby; you’re
safe and sound again, breeches and all. Come on and see what there is in
this Bedouin Camp. The camels look like it ought to be a heap
interesting.”
The others were not as much taken with the show as Andy. To him it was
all real, and breathed the atmosphere of the desert and the traders’
caravan; but Rob saw how much was tinsel and make-believe, and really
suspected that some of the so-called Arabs talked among themselves in
pretty fair English.
It happened that shortly after they had issued from this concession, and
Hiram was commencing to show signs of uneasiness, as though wanting to be
off, something came to pass that for the time being made them forget
their plans.
“Hey! what’s all that running about over there?” suddenly exclaimed Andy.
“Mebbe there’s goin’ to be an Oriental elopement or a wedding? Let’s
hurry over and get in line to see!”
“More’n like a dog-fight,” grumbled Hiram; “for I’ve noticed that in some
of these squalid villages of foreigners they have some ugly yellow curs
hanging around, which I should think the Fair people wouldn’t stand for.”
All the same, Hiram ran as fast as his mates to see what was going on.
They made a discovery before they were more than half way to the spot.
Indeed, the loud outcries borne to their ears, as well as the smoke that
came from a building where the signs indicated that a celebrated Egyptian
fortune-teller could be consulted, made this very manifest.
“Whee! it’s a fire!” gurgled Tubby, who was puffing very hard in his
effort not to be left in the lurch by his more agile companions.
The excitement can be easily imagined in that always thronged section of
the Exposition grounds. Scores of persons, many of them turbaned Arabs,
Turks with red fezzes on their heads, or other foreigners were rushing
this way and that, all wildly shouting, and wringing their hands as
though they expected that a dreadful misfortune threatened that part of
the Amusement Zone.
The gayly-dressed fortune-tellers were apparently up against a hard
proposition. They could pretend to tell what the future held for others,
but apparently had not been able to foresee such a common everyday
occurrence as their booth taking fire.
No one seemed to be thinking of trying to do anything. The authorities of
the Fair had provided arrangements for such accidents, and in due time,
doubtless, the fire company would dash upon the scene, ready to pour a
stream of water on the flames.
But seconds count when fire is seizing hold of flimsy curtains and
woodwork. A minute or two in the commencement of a conflagration means
that it may be smothered before it gets a firm clutch on the building.
Rob possibly remembered what had happened on that Long Island bay at the
time he and Andy saved the naphtha launch owned by old Cap. Jerry.
Just then he discovered a couple of local scouts hurrying up. They were
small lads, and might hardly know what was to be done in such an
emergency. Rob seized hold of the first one.
“Tell me, do you know where the nearest fire extinguisher is fastened; I
remember seeing some around the grounds here?”
No sooner had Rob put this question to the small scout than his face
lighted up eagerly.
“That’s the ticket!” he exclaimed, shrilly. “I knew there was something a
fellow ought to do! Why, yes, there’s one right back yonder, mister. All
you got to do is to grab it off the stand and get busy. I know where
another is further on!”
With that he darted off, followed by his companion. Rob had not even
waited to hear all that was said. He had his eye on that little
extinguisher immediately, and was leaping toward it, followed by the gaze
of his admiring chums.
Why, it seemed almost no time at all before the scout leader had wrenched
the extinguisher loose. His first thought was that luck favored him
because lo! and behold it chanced to be one of the same pattern he always
carried aboard his little motorboat, to provide against a catastrophe by
fire.
Thus armed and equipped, Rob started into the small building from which
the dense clouds of smoke issued, and amidst which tongues of angry flame
were to be seen.
Andy, Hiram and Tubby followed close on his heels. They had nothing with
which to fight the fire, but somehow seemed to consider it a part of
their duty to back their energetic leader up to the full limit of their
capacity.
It was, after all, nothing of moment, once Rob got the little stream
started on the flames. The fire had not gained sufficient headway to make
a stubborn resistance of it, and inside of three minutes Rob had it
entirely subdued.
“Back out, fellows; it’s all over!” he managed to exclaim, though half
choked by the penetrating smoke.
Just as the scouts came out, and by their smiles assured everybody that
there no longer remained a spark to endanger the neighboring flimsy
structures, the fire squad came hustling up. Of course there was a
perfect mob gathered by this time, and Rob found it hard work to try and
make his way through.
The man in charge of the fire-fighters hunted the scouts up and insisted
on shaking hands with them, a procedure that many in the crowd copied,
greatly to the displeasure of Rob, though Tubby and the others did not
seem to mind it in the least.
One alert young fellow, who announced that he was a reporter on a San
Francisco daily, tried his best to get an interview with Rob, who
positively declined to say anything except that they were scouts from
Long Island.
As this persistent newspaperman kept after them, and was seen in eager
conversation with Tubby in the rear, it might be taken for granted that
the fat scout was of a different mind from Rob. Trust Tubby to “blow the
horn” good and strong, especially when he could sing the praises of one
he cared for as much as he did for Rob Blake.
“Seems like things keep on happening wherever we go,” said Andy, after
they had finally managed to shake off the last of the curious crowd, and
retreated to another part of the Zone.
“It’s lucky for some people that such is the case,” asserted Tubby,
promptly. “If we hadn’t happened to be around I reckon that
fortune-teller’s place would have been burned to the ground. Some time we
may be sorry we bothered with it. They’re all a lot of fakes, say what
you will.”
Andy chuckled audibly at hearing that remark.
“You mustn’t mind Tubby, fellows,” he said, pretending to whisper, though
he knew the fat scout could hear every word plainly; “ever since that
time we were down at Coney Island, and a woman seeress there told him he
had a glorious future as the world’s most famous fat man, Tubby has been
sore on the craft. Now, that same wise woman told me I was going to be
the greatest traveler since Livingstone’s time. She read my longings and
aspirations, and I often think she could lift the curtain and see into
the future.”
“Aw! you’re silly if you believe a single word they say!” burst out
Tubby, with wrath and indignation; but in less than two minutes he was as
amiable as ever; the unpleasant incident was forgotten; for Tubby could
not stay out of humor long, and as Hiram was accustomed to saying,
“trouble and anger slipped from Tubby just like water does from a duck’s
back!”
More people were coming as the morning progressed, though the crowds
would not begin to compare with those that the afternoon and evening
would bring; when the band concerts were an added attraction, with
numerous other events going on in every direction, until one would wish
they could have a thousand eyes and ears so as not to miss anything.
Rob was tired of the scenes in the Amusement Zone, and ready to suggest
that all of them make a change of base, though he knew it would not be an
easy task to tear Andy away from the sights his heart yearned to keep in
contact with.
“There’s one of the yellow curs we saw in that Indian village,” remarked
Tubby; “and some boys are plaguing the life half out of him by throwing
sticks, and trying to round him up. He must have broken loose from the
enclosure where he was confined, and don’t know how to get back again.
Look at the way he acts, will you? They’d better go slow, or he’ll bite
one of those sillies! Oh, look at him snapping, will you, Rob? Makes me
think of the mad dog that ran through our town last——”
“Stop that talk, Tubby!” ordered Rob, sternly; but apparently it was too
late, for some one gave a shout, and like magic the cry was taken up
until dozens of frightened voices sent it rolling along the street of the
Zone:
“Mad dog! mad dog! run for your lives, everybody!”