BARNEY ON HAND.
"Thot's me name, an' this is me marruck!" cried the Irish lad, from the
darkness.
There was a hurrying rush of feet, and then--smack! smack!--two dark
figures were seen flying through the darkness as if they had been struck
by battering-rams.
"Hurrah!" cheered Frank, thrusting the revolver into his pocket, and
hastening to leap into the battle. "Give 'em glory, Barney!"
"Hurro!" shouted the Irish youth. "Th' United Shtates an' Ould Oireland
foriver! Nothing can shtand against th' combination!"
This unexpected assault was too much for Manuel Mazaro and his
satellites.
"Car-r-r-ramba!" snarled the Spaniard. "Dis treek is spoiled! We will
have to try de odare one, pardnares."
"We're reddy fer yer thricks, ye shnakes!" cried Barney.
"Are you armed?" asked Frank.
"To th' muzzle wid grape-shot an' canister!" was the reply.
But the boys were not compelled to resort to deadly weapons, for the
Spaniard and his gang suddenly took to their heels, and seemed to melt
away in the darkness.
"Musha! musha!" gasped Barney. "Where hiv they gone, Oi dunno?"
"They've skipped."
"An' lift us widout sayin' good-avenin'?"
"So it seems."
"Th' impoloight rascals! They should be ashamed av thimsilves!"
"Barney!"
"Frankie!"
"At school you had a way of always showing up just when you were needed
most, and you have not gotten over it."
"It's harrud to tache an ould dog new thricks, Frankie."
"You don't want to learn any new tricks; the old ones you know are all
right. Barney, give me your hand."
"Frankie, here it is, an' I'm wid yez, me b'y, till Oi have ter lave
yez, which won't be in a hurry, av Oi know mesilf."
The two lads clasped hands in the darkness of the passage.
"Now," said Frank, "to get out of this place."
"Th' sooner th' quicker."
"Which way shall we go?"
"Better go th' way we came in."
"Right, Barney. But how in the world did you happen to appear at such an
opportune moment? That sticks me."
"Oi saw yez, me b'y, whin th' crowd was cheerin' fer yez, but Oi
couldn't get to yez, though Oi troied me bist."
"And you followed."
"Oi did, but it's lost yez Oi would, av ye wasn't sane to come in here
by thim as wur watchin' av yez."
"Which was dead lucky for me."
"Thot it wur, me darlint, unliss ye wanter to shoot th' spalpanes ye wur
wid. Av they'd crowded yez, Oi reckon ye'd found a way to dispose av th'
lot."
"They were about to crowd me when I fired into the air."
"An' th' flash av th' revolver showed me yer face."
"That's how you were sure it was me, is it?"
"Thot wur wan way. Fer another, Oi hearrud yer voice, an' ye don't
suppose Oi wouldn't know thot av Oi should hear it astraddle av th'
North Pole, do yez?"
"Well, I am sure I knew your voice the moment I heard it, and the sound
gave no small amount of satisfaction."
The boys now hurried back along the narrow passage, and soon reached the
doorway by which they had entered.
The procession had passed on, and the great crowd of people had melted
from the street.
As soon as they were outside the passage, Barney explained that he had
arrived in town that night, and had hurried to the St. Charles Hotel,
but had found Professor Scotch in bed, and Frank gone.
"Th' profissor was near scared to death av me," said Barney. "He
wouldn't let me in th' room till th' bellboy had described me two or
thray toimes over, an' whin Oi did come in, he had his head under th'
clothes, an', be me soul! I thought by th' sound that he wur shakin'
dice. It wuz the tathe av him chattering togither."
Frank was convulsed with laughter, while Barney went on:
"'Profissor,' sez Oi, 'av it's doice ye're shakin', Oi'll take a hand at
tin cints a corner.'"
"What did he do then?"
"He looked out at me over the edge av th' bed-sprid, an' he sez, sez he,
'Are ye sure ye're yersilf, Barney Mulloy? or are ye Colonel Sally de la
Vilager'--or something av th' sort--'in disguise?'"
Frank laughed harder than before.
"What did you do then, Barney?"
"Oi looked at him, an' thot wur all Oi said. Oi didn't know what th' mon
mint, an' he samed to be too broke up to tell. Oi asked him where yo
wur, an' he said ye'd gone out to see th' parade. Whin Oi found out thot
wur all Oi could get out av him, Oi came out an' looked fer yez."
When Frank had ceased to laugh, he explained the meaning of the
professor's strange actions, and it was Barney's turn to laugh.
"So it's a duel he is afraid av, is it?"
"Yes."
"An' he wants a substitute?"
"Yes."
"Begobs, it's niver a duel was Oi in, but the profissor wuz koind to me
at Fardale, an' it's a debt av gratitude Oi owe him, so Oi'll make me
bluff."
"I do not believe Colonel Vallier will meet any one but Professor
Scotch, but the professor will be too ill to meet him, so he will have
to accept a substitute, or go without a fight."
"To tell ye th' truth, Frankie, Oi'd rather he'd refuse to accept, but
it's an iligant bluff Oi can make."
"You're all right, Barney."
"Tell me what brought this duel aboit."
So Frank told the whole story about the rescue of the Flower Queen, the
appearance of Rolf Raymond and Colonel Vallier, and how the masked girl
had called his name just as they were taking her away, with the result
already known to the reader.
Barney was intensely interested.
"An' thot wur her Oi saw in th' parade to-noight?"
"Yes."
"She flung ye some flowers?"
"She did. It was her crown of flowers. I still have it here, although it
is somewhat crushed."
"Ah, Frankie, me b'y, it's a shly dog ye are! Th' girruls wur foriver
getting shtuck on yez, an' Oi dunno what ye hiv been doin' since l'avin'
Fardale. It's wan av yer mashes this must be."
"I've made no mashes, Barney."
"Not m'anin' to, perhaps, but ye can't hilp it, laddybuck, fer they will
get shtuck on yez, av ye want thim to or not. Ye don't hiv ter troy to
catch a girrul, Frankie."
"But I give you my word that I cannot imagine who this can be. All the
curiosity in my nature is aroused, and I am determined to know her name
before I rest."
"Well, b'y, Oi'm wid yez. What shall we do?"
"Go to the place where the Krewe of Proteus holds its ball."
"Lade on."
As both were strangers in New Orleans, they did not know how to make the
shortest cut to the ballroom, and Frank found it impossible to obtain a
carriage. They were delayed most exasperatingly, and, when they arrived
at the place where the ball was to be held, the procession had broken
up, and the Queen of Flowers was within the ballroom.
"This is most unfortunate!" cried Frank, in dismay. "I meant to get here
ahead of the procession, so that I could speak to her before she got
inside."
"Well, let's go in an' spake to her now."
"We can't."
"Whoy not?"
"This is a very exclusive affair."
"An' we're very ixclusive paple."
"Only those having invitations can enter the ballroom."
"Is thot so? Thin it's outsoide we're lift. What can we do about thot?"
"Nothing."
"Is it too late to git invoitations?"
"They can't be bought, like tickets."
"Well, what koind av a shindig do ye call this, Oi dunno?"
Barney was thoroughly disgusted.
Frank explained that Professor Scotch had been able to procure
invitations, but neither of them had fancied they would care to attend
the ball, so the opportunity had been neglected.
"Whinever Oi can get something fer nothing, Oi take it," said Barney.
"It's a use Oi can make fer most things Oi get."
The two boys lingered outside the building. Frank hoped the Flower Queen
would come out, and he would be able to speak to her before she entered
a carriage and was carried away.
Sweet strains of music floated down to the ears of the restless lads,
and, with each passing moment, Frank grew more and more disgusted with
himself.
"To think that I might be in there--might be waltzing with the Queen of
Flowers at this moment, if I had asked the professor to obtain the
invitations!" he cried.
"It's harrud luck!" said Barney; "but ye'll know betther next toime."
"Next time will be too late. In some way, I must meet this girl and
speak to her. I must, and I will!"
"That's th' shtuff, me b'y! Whiniver ye say anything loike thot, ye
always git there wid both fate. Oi'll risk yez."
Two men in dress suits came out to smoke and get a breath of air. They
stood conversing within a short distance of the boys.
"She has been the sensation of the day," said one. "The whole city is
wondering who she is."
"She seems determined to remain a mystery."
"Yes, for she has vanished from the ballroom in a most unaccountable
manner. No one saw her take her departure."
"Not even Rolf Raymond."
"No. He is as much mystified as anybody. The fellow knows her, but he
positively refuses to disclose her identity."
Frank's hand had fallen on Barney's arm with a grip of iron, and the
fingers were sinking deeper and deeper into the Irish lad's flesh as
these words fell on their ears.
"It is said that the young fellow who saved her from the steer to-day
does not know her."
"No. She saw him in the crowd to-night, and flung him her crown, calling
him a hero. He was nearly mobbed by the crowd, that was determined to
know his name, but he escaped in some way, and has not been seen since."
"That settles it!" Frank hissed in Barney's ear. "They are speaking of
the Flower Queen."
"Sure," returned the Irish lad; "an' av yersilf, Frankie, b'y."
"She is no longer in the ballroom."
"No."
"We are wasting our time waiting here."
"Roight ye are."
"Then we will wait no longer. Come, we'll go to the hotel."