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.