Kitabı oku: «The Boy Scouts at the Panama-Pacific Exposition», sayfa 11
CHAPTER XXI
THE MAD DOG PANIC
No more dreadful cry can be imagined than the one the four scouts now heard rising all around them. It made many faces turn deathly white, and there was a hasty flight on the part of the more timid in order to gain the shelter of the adjoining walls of the booths.
Some boys and men also remained, and commenced to pelt the wretched cur still further with stones, sticks, or anything they could lay hands on, meanwhile keeping up more or less wild shouting.
“The fools!” exclaimed Rob, indignantly; “that dog is no more mad than I am; but they’re doing everything they can to make him so. He’s already scared half out of his head with all those things being shied at him. He snarls and snaps because he’s at bay, and the old wolf nature shows then. All he wants is to get back home somehow!”
The clamor grew in violence as new voices joined in. Those who came running up, always eager to see whatever was going on, began to hurl things at the cringing yellow cur flattened against the wall; though when the poor beast once started toward them it was amazing to see how the mob melted away, men falling over each other in their frantic fear of being bitten.
Rob was growing more and more indignant. He tried to speak to some of those nearest him, but he might as well have tried to stop the flow of Niagara for all the effect his words of expostulation had upon the shouters.
Women and children were shrieking in fright, even though they were apparently safe in the various buildings that lined the sunny street of the Zone.
“I just can’t stand for this racket!” the others heard Rob say, as he suddenly left them and sprang forward.
Immediately loud voices called out, some warning him not to be rash, and others applauding his daring, for it is always so easy to stand back and clap hands when some one is taking the chances.
“Oh! what does Rob mean to do?” cried Tubby, who had seen the mad dog killed in the main street of Hampton the previous summer, and had a perfect horror of being brought into personal contact with any animal suffering from the rabies.
“He isn’t intending to try and grab the beast!” explained Hiram. “Rob knows better than that, even if the dog is only scared, and not mad. It would bite him just as quick, I guess, as if it was rabid. Watch and see what his game is, fellows; Rob knows what he’s about, you’d better believe!”
Every eye was centered on the form of the boy as he advanced toward the cowering dog. Rob was snapping his fingers, and acting as friendly as he could, wishing to assure the beast he had no hostile motive in approaching. This he did in order to keep the frenzied and tortured dog from jumping at him before he could manage to put his little plan into operation.
At least it held the attention of the dog, though the animal suspected the genuine nature of his advance, and cowered there watching him, still snarling viciously.
It required considerable nerve to keep on in spite of the increasing growls of the dog at bay. Rob was ready to act in case the beast did spring toward him, for he certainly had no intention of allowing its jaws to come in contact with his flesh.
Most of the shouting had died out by now. Everybody was watching with held breath to see what that venturesome boy in khaki would attempt. Many doubtless believed, as they stared with distended eyes, that Rob actually meant to grapple with the animal and throttle it.
“It’s a burning shame to let a boy try what men might have done!” one white-faced woman near the other scouts was heard to say; and they could readily imagine that she had boys of her own at home, of whom she was doubtless thinking as she watched Rob walking forward into the danger zone.
But Rob had another scheme in view. Unarmed, he did not covet an encounter at close quarters with that yellow dog, whether the beast was mad or only frenzied with fear.
In fact, Rob meant to try and cage him, if it could be worked. He believed that if given a chance the dog would only too gladly slip in through any opening that seemed to offer him a temporary refuge from all those shouting tormentors.
Rob, in taking a rapid survey of the situation, had noticed what seemed to be a partly finished booth which was being erected for some late coming concession owner. The small building was almost finished, and had a door, which he had seen was ajar, though not fully open.
It was the boy’s plan, made up on the spur of the moment, to reach that door and push it wide open. Then in some fashion perhaps the frightened dog might be influenced to enter, when the door could be closed, and thus he would be held in a trap.
Perhaps Rob’s heart beat like a trip-hammer within him as he came close to that door, and he fancied he saw the dog starting to jump toward him. He snapped his fingers again and spoke kindly. It may be these expressions of good-will had a little effect on the beast; at any rate the advance movement was delayed, though the vicious snarling and whining continued.
Then Rob found that he could stretch out his hand and reach the door. He started to push it open, though it was no easy task.
Having accomplished this to his satisfaction, he began to back away, still keeping his eyes on the dog, and ready to seek some friendly place of safety in case of necessity.
The dog had seen his action. It must have known that an avenue of escape had been opened up by the pushing back of that door. Possibly the poor beast anticipated a safe return to the village where it had been at home among its kind.
“Look! it’s going to accept Rob’s invitation!” cried Tubby, excitedly.
“Smart dog!” said Andy; “he may save his bacon by that clever move.”
“There he goes in; now what d’ye think of that for a bright trick?” Hiram shouted.
That was just what the badgered dog did – slipped along the wall until it came to the partly open door, and then vanished from view.
“There goes Rob back! What’s he meaning to do now, I wonder?” Tubby exclaimed, in fresh consternation.
“He wants to complete the job by shutting the door,” explained Andy, who could grasp a situation like this much better than the stout scout, because his wits worked quicker.
All sounds ceased again as Rob pushed along the wall of the new building until he could reach out his hand. Then the door began to close, faster and faster until the yawning gap was entirely filled.
Hardly had this been done than there arose a deafening cheer. Everybody seemed to be wild with delight, and shook hands with one another in their excitement. Now that the terrible “mad dog” had been caged, plenty of weapons would be remembered; and it would be so easy, and safe, to shoot through the windows of the building.
“Let’s get out of this, fellows!” said Rob, when he managed to worm his way through the crush and join his mates.
Tubby frowned as though it was against his principles to run away when people were wanting to shake hands, and call one a hero; but not wanting to be left behind the others, Tubby had to go.
They had not reached a point far distant when the report of several firearms reached them. Rob shook his head and frowned.
“That’s about the silliest thing I ever ran up against,” he said. “The dog was no more mad than Tubby here is. Those boys pestered him, and got him scared. Then all that shouting and waving of hands and throwing of things at him finished the business. It was a foolish scare, and I guess nine out of ten mad dog hunts are in the same class.”
“Well, they’ve finished the poor thing now, I guess!” ventured Hiram.
“It sounds like it the way they’re cheering, just as if they’ve done something mighty heroic!” added Andy.
“The only thing worth a cheer,” remarked Tubby, emphatically, “was when our chum Rob walked right at the snarling beast, and took all sorts of chances of getting bit and clawed up. That needed nerve, let me tell you!”
“Oh! not any to speak of,” said the scout leader, hastily. “I made sure to have my eye on a shed close by all the while; and if he’d really made a jump for me you’d have seen a mighty fine exhibition of high and lofty climbing. Mad or not, I wasn’t meaning to stay there and tackle him, without a thing to hit him with.”
“But it all worked well, as nearly always happens with you, Rob,” said Tubby; “though once my heart seemed to be up in my throat; that was when you had to snap your fingers and coax him, Rob. Only for that he’d have made for you, thinking you meant to strike him.”
“I’m glad it’s over,” observed Hiram, shuddering.
“That dog belonged to the Injuns we saw in the village,” ventured Andy, thoughtfully; “and you know Injuns think roast dog is the finest dish ever. I expect they’ll want to claim the remains. Little they’ll bother about any talk of mad dog; it’s more likely to be mad Injun when they find out what’s happened.”
And after that they tried to put the latest incident out of their minds, though Tubby would explode some new idea concerning it every once in a while, as they wandered about the Fair grounds taking in new sights.
CHAPTER XXII
TAKING IN THE SIGHTS OF THE FAIR
“Well, he’s gone, Rob!” said Andy, as they were coming out after an hour spent in the wonderful Transportation Building.
“Oh, you mean Hiram?” remarked the scout leader, after taking a comprehensive glance around. “Well, I’ve been expecting him to give us the slip for some time. He held on longer than I thought he would.”
“No trouble guessing where he’s bound for,” laughed Andy. “That hall where the latest modern inventions are on exhibition draws him like sugar or molasses does the pesky flies in summer time. He sticks there nearly as hard as – well, as Tubby did in that skimpy chair at the Panama show.”
“Bring it nearer home, can’t you, Andy, and say about as well as you want to stick to that Zone of freaks and flimsies and Coney Island shows,” ventured Tubby, with singular quickness, for him.
“I arranged it with Hiram to stay with us just as long as he could stand for it,” explained Rob; “and that when he did feel he had to go, to call at the little booth of the tobacconist where we’ve arranged to meet, not later than four this afternoon.”
“Remember that, you Andy,” warned Tubby, shaking a fat finger in the direction of the other, “in case we happen to get separated! Accidents will come along sometimes, you know; and you’re likely to feel that call to the wild again any old time.”
Andy only laughed. Apparently he had a tough hide when it came to resisting such harmless blunt-nosed shafts as Tubby could launch against him.
“I’ll keep it in mind, Tubby, I promise you,” he remarked; “but after we’ve had something to eat, you won’t try to keep me any longer. We’re all here to enjoy ourselves according to our bent, you must remember.”
“And your bent runs along the line of the spectacular display of gaudy tinsel and all sorts of make-believe frauds!” continued Tubby, pretending to curl his short upper lip in disdain, though truth to tell he rather enjoyed a little of the same pleasures himself.
“Have it as you please, Tubby,” Andy told him. “To me they’re all real, and when I find myself surrounded by that wonderful foreign atmosphere, it’s just like I’d taken wings and flown over there to Africa, or Asia, or the islands of the Far East. Rob, make him stop trying to interfere with my pleasure. Just because one fortune-teller riled him, Tubby sneers at everything that wears a Turkish fez, a Bedouin bournoose or a Persian caftan. I guess I know how to sift the chaff from the wheat. And a fellow who means to be a world traveler some day ought to rub up against these sort of people all he can.”
Tubby gave it up. He knew nothing he could say would alter Andy’s deep-rooted convictions. Indeed, it was more to get even with him that the stout scout spoke as he did.
Later on they hunted up a dining-place where they could secure a fair meal for their money, at least as good as was to be expected under the circumstances.
“Now laugh if you want to, Tubby,” said Andy, boldly, after they had issued forth from the restaurant. “I’m going to break away, and you know where I’ll be heading. You keep Rob company the rest of the day. He’s got a list of things he’s fairly itching to see, and it’s as long as my arm, at that. Good luck to you!”
He hurried off without waiting to hear what Tubby might have to say; but the latter only shook his head as he caught the amused look in Rob’s eyes, and shrugged his fat shoulders as though ready to give Andy up as beyond redemption.
“Let him go and enjoy himself as he feels like,” commented Rob. “That’s everybody’s privilege when they come to a show as tremendous as this one is. And, Tubby, I think you’re too hard on Andy. I happen to know that he’s been devouring every book on travel and exploration he can find anywhere. The subject fills his mind.”
“Then he really does mean to make that his life work, Rob? I thought it was just a sort of cloak, as you might say, to cover his wanting to see these Oriental humbugs carry on. Fortune-tellers ought to be suppressed by law; they do lots of harm, I understand, especially where silly people believe in ’em.”
Rob came very near remarking that, for one who scorned their class, Tubby himself seemed to be bothered considerably over a certain foolish prophecy; but on second thought he concluded not to add to the color in the fat boy’s cheeks by embarrassing him.
Being now free from the two chums who had such peculiar and strong notions as to what they wanted to devote all their time to, Rob and Tubby started in to spend several hours to the best possible advantage.
They were not merely seeking amusement, but instruction as well; and there were copious fountains to be tapped within the borders of those extensive grounds of the wonderful Exposition that would repay the laborer manyfold for his trouble.
“I tell you I’m mighty glad I happened to run across you, Rob,” Tubby remarked, for perhaps the tenth time, as they watched the process of the Government fish hatchery, where millions of eggs were transformed into tiny objects that looked like animated specks in the water, but which under proper care would some day be placed in certain lakes or rivers or in the sea, to add to the prosperity of the nation that was fast learning how to conserve its food supplies.
“And I’m just as pleased on my own account,” the scout leader told him. “You see how my two chums are bound to desert me, each crazy along his own particular line, and bound to follow his pet whim through thick and thin.”
“Haw! then I’m the only sensible one of the lot, seems like!” grunted Tubby, with beaming face. “Thank you for intimating as much, Rob. I do seem to fancy many of the same things that strike you as worth seeing. ’Course I sort of enjoy the humbug of the Zone, but a little goes a great way. My better nature craves educational value for the time spent in coming away out here!”
When Tubby said this so grandly he tried very hard to keep a straight face; but discovering the gleam of merriment in Rob’s eyes, he burst into a laugh.
“Well, it’s part way true, anyhow, Rob,” he declared. “I am having a real good time keeping up with you, even if we’re walking miles and miles, and my shoes are getting to pinch me something fierce.”
“Let’s get somewhere and sit down for a spell,” Rob suggested, for he awoke to the fact that poor Tubby was not built for getting over acres and acres of ground with all that flesh to carry along.
“Now, isn’t that queer, Rob; but d’ye know I was just going to dare you to go me a plate of that ice cream over there. We can sit at a table and get rested while we partake of the stuff. Excuse me for calling it that, but the chances are against getting anything first-class when you’re dealing with a man who put up an enormous sum to pay for his concession, and has to get it back somehow out of the public.”
They spent almost half an hour there, watching the crowds and resting. Then as Tubby declared he felt capable again of almost any exertion, they resumed their sight-seeing walk.
“I notice, Rob, that you’re working around so as to come on our meeting-place after a while,” suggested Tubby.
“I was waiting to see if you’d pay attention to that,” the other told him. “I’m glad to find you did. A scout must have his eyes on the alert all the while if he wants to keep up with the procession, Tubby.”
“Oh! I’m improving right along, Rob; my folks at home tell me that, too. Time was when my favorite occupation used to be to stretch and yawn. All that’s changed now, for I yawn and stretch, you see. This scout business does work wonders, doesn’t it?”
But then everyone knew that Tubby had changed wonderfully since he joined the troop. Considering the handicap under which he labored on account of his size, and the difficulty he had in doing things that were easy for his chums, he managed to get along tip-top. Rob always gave him more credit than the rest when an object they had been laboring to accomplish had been attained; because the one who overcomes the most strenuous barriers deserves greater praise than those who have not been compelled to draw upon their reserve powers.
They stood there looking up at the vast Triumphal Arch of the Setting Sun, which, it seemed to Tubby, was the most beautiful thing in the whole Exposition. It appealed to him in a way he could hardly explain, except that something seemed to draw him back there again and again.
“Why, before you came, Rob,” he remarked, “I used to just haunt this place, together with the vicinity of the Column of Progress looking out on the Marino. I’ll see them in my dreams long after all the other effects of the Fair have faded away. And I reckon now every visitor will somehow have a certain thing stay with him through all time, as a memory of the greatest Exposition that ever was given.”
“Step back here, Tubby!” said Rob, as he took hold of the other’s sleeve and drew him swiftly around a corner.
“Why, what’s all this mean?” gasped the stout boy, looking startled.
“Oh! I saw that hustling newspaper man again,” explained Rob, “and I was afraid he’d corner us and try to worm out something of our past.”
“Shucks! is that all?” said Tubby, in disgust. “Why, Rob, honest to goodness now, if I didn’t think it might be another mad dog scare we were up against.”
“Well, it was something I dislike almost as much,” vowed Rob. “And if he ever got you cornered I’m pretty sure you’d give him all the details about that other little happening that would make me look silly in the paper. Now he’s gone, and it’s safe for us to step out.”
Tubby shook his head, and sighed.
“You sure are the queerest fish ever, Rob,” he observed, with a disappointed air. “I never yet ran across the fellow who wouldn’t be only too glad to see a write-up about him in the paper where he was called a hero, and all that. Why, they’d hurry off to buy a dozen copies, and mail the same to all the girls they knew. But say, whenever you do a thing worth mentioning you try to sneak away as if it was something to be ashamed of.”
“I don’t like it, and that’s the only explanation I can give you, Tubby. Come, let’s go into this building, and then half an hour from now it’ll be time to make for our meeting-place so as to pick up the other fellows.”
“I hope Hiram has made up his mind it’s about due to spring his surprise on the company he’s come all the way out here to see and talk with,” Tubby said, as they started into the building mentioned by Rob.
“I’ve got a hunch that he will, after to-day, Tubby. I mean to speak with him about it this very night, and see if it can’t be settled to-morrow. Hiram looks so anxious every little while it’s too bad he doesn’t take the bull by the horns and settle the matter once for all.”
When the half-hour was up the two boys issued forth, and headed in the direction of the tobacconist’s booth, which was not a great way off. Tubby was again feeling tired, and seemed pretty well used up.
“We’ll go home as we did last night, right after eating,” suggested Rob. “Then to-morrow we needn’t hurry around, for we’ll stay until the gates close at ten, so as to see the illumination, and the play of the electric fountains.”
“That suits me first-rate, though I’ve seen all those things already, and more than once,” the other told the scout leader.
A few minutes later and Tubby burst forth again.
“There’s the booth we’re aiming for, Rob,” he declared; “and isn’t that our chum Andy walking up and down like a tiger in its cage? There, he sees us now, seems like, and he’s beckoning. Let’s hurry on,” and Tubby actually forgot that he was tired in his eagerness to learn why the other was showing such signs of excitement.
“A note from Hiram that he left here for us, fellows,” Andy hastened to say as the others reached his side; “and he wants us to chase around there hot-footed, because there’s something big on the bills.”
