The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1904-07-02

ed down. The terrified girls on that side
huddled away from it.
STEADY, steady!' The calm, assur-
ing accents Of the star carried plainly to
where Dolph sat, though still restrained so
that the audience might not hear. keep
it up. Think of your house Don let
EN- know in front you re scared. The
asbestos Il be down in a minute. Keep
on dancing
AS best they might they danced. Some
Of the men had stepped in 10 fill the gaps
left by the faintiug girls. The tradition
Of the perfesh was holding good, But
the stage hands, bound by no loyalty to
their public, had bolted And now the
orchestra began to desert, the first violin
in the van, Dillon caught Dolph's eager
/ eve.
Can You play tirst2' he asked
Sure, sir, said Dolph, and swung
/ spiriiedly into the familiar, trivial strain,
followed only by the cornet and the snare
I drum. BY musical standards, very pc.
euliar trio, but it was doing the work It
still dominated the rising voice of the
crowd Moreover, it served as a barrier
of sound between them and the now frantic
tones Of the star, cursing the stage hands
Where the hound who runs that cur
tain You dogs, You eowarlsl You
Sinking beasts Get back to your places.
I What. You won't? You, Hall, get my
revolver. In my dressing room. Quick
| u teach en- No. too late The aisles
are jammins See if YOU can get the cur
tain down. I've 20; to 20 out or they'll
break
In his gruteSque costume. aS Hob the
Goblin Prince, Benny Hughes >trolled ont
from the right lower entrance, He was
chewing a toothpiCk His hands were in
his pockets The paint on his face was
thickly streaked with the sweat of his
agony, but his expression was that Of
mildly panied surprise. He began to speak
10 high, cool drawliug tones. the long
pauss~ between the sentences he filed with
6ercely whispered orders to his troupe
Ladies aud Gentlemen: Don't 90.
I At least don { hurry / IN about to do
ny best little stunt THAT righ, exit is
boliei. Get to il, someone, quick Its
only Iiitle disturbance. Nothing to spoil
.',ol story like the one m going TO
tell Ballet dismissed Get outside.
girlS. hon stop for anything \ little
smoke that al. Fer God sake. can
I you start that curtain 1, L soon be out.
Then We i all go out, easy and neat. with
aat erowling ike the batter who caught
biz own pop-ay lGirls safe Get down
+ Ia front aud keep cm from breaking then }
ioa see the orchestra j. still earning its
pay Keep !, up, Dillon Old man Were
holding EN-
of the musicians only poIph and the
leader were now left. 4 puff Of smoke had
chokcd of the coEnet and scared out the
drummer Dillon >tood, straight and easy
leading pulph Ike a full orchestra aud
booking uP into fury Of fame far over
bead
Pat y0ur elbow IN ii, nv boy. he
5rci exal,antly That the trek The
Irish aud the Dutch How can they beat
rs p
The aisle, ~ere uow filed with crowiing
wo,nea aud crying children and the uur-
nur was RISING to a clamor \ charresl and
biackcued mass Of eanva, fell At the feet Of
Hashs- lie kicked it con,cmptuously
~ much for that. he remarked
bliihe!y To his audience An a bluff But
about the orohestra IL small orchestra,
A. you may notice. but q hard working
ouc tYou little "a, 6ldIer. ii We ever
~, ont 81 this. | d .iye vou a life Job
And lha, brings me to my little story.
gt'- coming now, Dillon But We \ save
most nf em \ big German played
bass drum ia a swell orchestra. In the
middle Of one of these soft dreamy, cot
ton batting rassaee~-aiaSio, pr,sglsSimo.
ylanoiorto. you knoW-hc leaned over and
!lokrd al his score Then he hit his biz
drum bjg welt Thank heaven. the
asbestos is comiE. at la>t'l The leader
jumped him good aud hard What did
you do that for YOU fool .Ach. SAYS
Hans. TubbeTiug at his scure again he vas
a 'ly bu, played im
IIa Ia ha ha shrilled biz Dillon.
laughing loyalty up into the face of death
.lIaw haw haw beloved polph,
without for an instant stopping hi, music,
in faithful supper, Of his leader,
Great /, the reassuring power of mirth
In the Jammel aisles was swift relaxa-
lion. Some Of the frightened people turned
to sec what the joke NIGH, be, aud So for
a few seconds more, each to be counted in
human lives, the impending rout was post
poued For a. vet the worst of the fire
was not visible from the orchestra seats;
only those of the profession who had
stuck 10 their posts fully realized the immi-
nent doom
polph knew tie had seen theatre fires
before. and once had helped to play an
audience out with panic at their heelss To
his simple, honest mind, it was part of
what be was paid for He glanced up at
the descending asbestos curtain. and saw
that it had caught in the middle half way
down Hughes, still coolly talking. was
tearing at the ropes with bleeding fingers
Ia a fash nolph realized the situation.
MAZDA ; wire was holding the curtain The
employee whose business it was to unfasten
it had forgotten or neglected his duty His
glance followed along the thin thread of
metal to the balcony-and fell on Mazda |
wreuching frantically at the fastening.
Mein Gottr' groaned the little Ger |
man, and his bow arm fell
Dillon whirled on him What" he
cried You're never goin' to quit, old |
man He ehoked on the words and |
Dolph saw him fighting the fumes away |
from his face. Play something German, /
aus der Votterlant, he gasped his tact |
aud wit still with him Keep it up till |
this floor is clear Tm-all-in The |
smoke
He toppled from his platform. The
powerful little German heaved his chief
down through the door that led beneath
the stage. hoping that some one would find |
him in time. Then, catching up his in
strument again, he faced about upon Mazda
and struck into the noble strains Of the
German battle song,
deutschland, Deutschland uber allies
1t rose, clear and splendid, an inspiration
to courage and all that was best in the girl
ras,.npdn1 IN If