FUN AT THE HOTEL
The long ride had made all of the boys hungry, and when they procured
supper at the hotel they cleaned up nearly everything that was set
before them.
"Nothing the matter with your appetites," observed a sour-looking
individual who sat next to Tom at the table.
"Nothing at all, sir," answered the fun-loving youth. "What made you
think there was?"
"Eh?"
"What made you think there was something wrong with our internal
machinery, whereby we might be wanting in a proper regard for victuals?"
The man stared at Tom, and while a few at the table snickered, the
man himself looked more sour than ever.
"See here, don't you poke fun at me!" he cried.
"Never dreamed of it, my dear sir," said Tom, unruffled. "By the way,
how's your heart?"
"Why--er--my heart's all right."
"Glad to hear it. Yesterday I heard of a donkey who had his heart on
the wrong side of his body. Odd case, wasn't it?"
"See here, you young imp, do you mean to call me a--er--a donkey?"
and the man grew red in the face.
"A donkey? Why, no, sir! What put such a notion in your head?"
"You said--"
"So I did. Go on."
"You said--"
"So you said before."
"You said--"
"You said that before. You said, I said, and I said, so I did. It's
perfectly clear, as the strainer said to the tea."
By this time, all sitting at the table were on a broad grin. As a
matter of fact, the sour-looking man was not liked in that locality,
and the boarders were glad to see somebody "take him down."
"I won't put up with your foolishness!" stormed the man. "I am not
a donkey, and I want you to know it."
"Well, I am glad you mentioned it," said Tom calmly. "Now, there
won't be the least occasion for a mistake."
"Don't insult me!"
"No, sir; I am not looking for work."
"Eh?"
"I said I wasn't looking for work."
"What do you mean by that?"
"That, sir, is a mystery puzzle, and there is a reward of one herring
bone for the correct solution. Answers must be sent in on one side
of the paper only, and have a certificate added that the sender has
not got cold feet."
At this quaint humor, some at the table laughed outright. The
sour-looking individual looked thoroughly enraged.
"I--I'll settle with you another time, young man!" he roared, and
dashed from the room.
"Tom, you made it rather warm for him," remarked Dick.
"Well, he had no right to find fault with our appetites," grumbled
Tom. "We are paying for our meals, and I am going to eat what I please."
"And I don't blame you, young man," said a gentleman sitting opposite.
"Sladen is very disagreeable to us all and makes himself especially
obnoxious to newcomers. He imagines the hotel is here for his especial
benefit."
"Well, he wants to treat me fairly, or I'll give him as good as he
sends, and better."
During the evening Sladen made himself particularly disagreeable to
the Rovers and their chums. This set Tom to thinking, and he asked
one of the hotel men what business the man was in and where he usually
kept himself.
"He is a traveling salesman," was the answer. "He sells horse and
cattle medicine."
"Oh, I see," said Tom, and set his brain to work to play some joke
on the sour-looking vender of stock remedies.
Tom's chance came sooner than expected. A batch of colored folks had
drifted into the place under the impression that a certain planter
was going to give them work at big wages. They were a worthless lot,
the scum of other plantations, and nobody wanted them.
Sitting down, Tom penned the following note and got it to one of the
negroes in a roundabout fashion:
"The man who wants you and all of the others is Sandy Sladen. He does
not dare to say so here at the hotel, but all of you had better go
up to him on the sly and tell him you are ready to work, and ask for
a dollar in advance--that's the sign that it is all right. Do not
let him put you off, as he may want to test you. This is the chance
of your life."
The communication was signed with a scrawl that might mean anything.
The negro read it and passed it to his friends. All were mystified,
but they decided that they must do as the letter said, and without
loss of time.
Sladen was sitting in the reading-room of the hotel smoking a cheap
cigar, when he was told a negro wished to see him.
"Very well, send him in," he said in his loud, consequential tone.
The burly negro came in almost on tiptoes and, putting his mouth
close to Sladen's ear, whispered:
"I'se ready to go to work, sah. Hadn't yo' bettah gib me a dollah, sah?"
"What's that?" demanded the traveling man.
The negro repeated his words in a slightly louder tone.
"I don't want you to work for me!" cried the sour-looking individual.
"Get out!"
"Dat's all right, sah. I can do it, sah."
"I don't want you."
"Yes, yo' do, sah. Won't you han' ober dat dollah, sah? It will come
in mighty useful, sah."
"Say, you're crazy!" cried the traveling man.
By this time two other colored men were coming in. Both approached
as secretly as had the first.
"I'se ready to go to work fo' you, sah," said each, and added: "Kin
I hab dat dollah?"
"Look here, what does this mean?" roared the irate man. "Get away
from here, before I boot you out!"
But the negroes did not go, and in a few minutes more three others
entered. Soon the reading-room was full of them, all talking in an
excited manner.
"We'se ready to work fo' you!" they cried.
"Give me a chance fust?" bawled one big, coal-black fellow.
"No, de fust job comes to me!" put in the man who had received the
letter.
"Dat job is mine!" called out a third. "Ain't dat so?" and he caught
Sladen by the arm.
This was a signal for the others, and soon they completely surrounded
the traveling man, who tried in vain to ward them off.
"Give us dat dollah!" called out several.
"We want work, an' yo' has got to gib it to us."
"Yo' can't bring us to dis town fo' nuffin!"
They pushed and hustled the traveling man all around the room, while
the rest of the guests looked on in amazement. Tom and his friends
stood by the door and enjoyed the scene immensely.
"He is surely getting all that is coming to him," observed Fred.
"Say, he vos so mad like a bumbles bee," came from Hans.
"If you don't go away, I'll call an officer!" came frantically from
the traveling man. "I don't want to hire anybody."
"Yes, yo' do!" was the chorus. "Give us dat dollah!"
By this time the owner of the hotel had heard of the excitement, and
he came bustling in.
"See here," he said to Sladen, "you can't use this hotel for an
employment office. If you want to hire help, you have got to do it
on the outside."
"I don't want help!" stormed the traveling man.
"These men say you sent for them."
"Maybe he wants them to try some of his horse remedies," suggested
a man who did not like Sladen. "If so, I advise them not to take the
job." And a general laugh arose at the sally.
"You have got to get out of here," said the hotel man, speaking to
the negroes. "And you must go, too," he added to the traveling man.
"Me?"
"Yes, you. You have made trouble enough around here. After this, when
you come to town, you can go to some other hotel."
"This is an outrage!"
"We want a job, or some money!" bawled two of the colored men. And
they rushed at Sladen and began to shake him violently. He pushed
them away and started for the door. They went after him, and in the
hallway he got into a free fight and almost had his coat torn from
his back.
"I'll get even with somebody for this!" he almost foamed. "If I find
out who played this joke on me--"
"Go on, and do your talking outside," interrupted the hotel proprietor,
and then the disgruntled traveling man had to leave, with the angry
mob of colored men following him. He was so pestered by the latter
that he had to take a train out of town the very next morning.
"That was piling it on pretty thick, Tom," said Dick, after the
excitement was over.
"He deserved it, Dick. I made some inquiries around the hotel, and
not a single person liked him. He was the torment of all the hired
help, and was keeping them in hot water continually."
"Well, if he finds you out, he'll make it warm for you."
"I intend to keep mum," answered the fun-loving Rover, and he did
keep mum. It may be added here that he never met Sladen again.