Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-31

FILE PETE HAD THOUGHT UP NEW
hear more or less from Gus. And We
did. He was a comedian along his
own lines, Gus was. Inside OF hve
minutes he'd decorated himself with
one of the ladies' hats and was pa
radin' around the lobby draped in
some some ;s Gheosed S S1at ana
Gus didn't have the field all to him
self. though. Halt an hour later a
tall. thin guy with face like horse
came on the scene and was hailed
tie Pete" Wearin' his hat over one
ear and a cigar in one corner Of his
mouth seemed to be Peters speciality.
1t wasn't such q KILN act. but II got
bowls of merriment out of the CROWN
multitude.
loadin' more noble knights. They hard.
~ looked the part. If I'd been Euessln
without any inside dope from Alonzo !
might have sized 'em up as delegates 70
a cow and hog products convention. or
sonnet thing rural IKE that that AnyT Tsy lev
mostly plain. ordinary folks; some pain
fully plain. and others moro ordinary
than usual.
But they didn't seem to mind that.
Not bit. BY the time q hundred or 10
had collected and got to greetin' the ones
was being introduced around. and Gus
and little Pete had thought UP new acts
TO spring, the lobby was lively spot.
There was a hum Of chatter like mock
of nivvers startin' on low. with frequent
outbursts of gig8les and smokers and
haw-haws az some little group let itself
60 over q new joke or maybe an old
one
And right in the midst Of all this COM
motion in drifts the rest Of our party
from the cardroom. where they'd been
seen the look on sa oxrie's ' face s not to
mention Pinckney's expression.
"What-what the deuce" says Pirck-
ney. II say. Shorty. how long has this
been going on:"
"Oh. about an hour" says I.
But what's 1t all about?" demands
Oggie. who are all these weird per-
rHuh:" says I. Can't you tell Noble
Knight OF Ninevah when you see one?
Well. that's what they are. And these
are their noble ladies with EN-. Annual
conclave. you know. More coming every
minute. The hotel is going to be full Of
'em for the next two days"
"Oh. say!" protests Oggie. How
perfectly dreadful
That seems to be Pinckney's verdict.
too. and Mrs. Blair and Sadie agree with
em. First of they was for packin' up
cides it's too late for jump to another
town and that they'd better stick 1t out.
May be rather amusing. after ALL"
says Pinckney. 1--WE never mingled
much 1an With noble knights before" .
amt going to do much minglin' now.
We're rank outsiders at this show"
So we were, too. When our little six
some drifts down for a 7-o'clock din
ner the annual banquet was in full
at the far end Of the dinin' room. and
one Of the bus boys is assigned to take
our orders, all the regular Mattresses
being busy with the noble knights.
What an awful chatter" says
Madge Blair.
they?" says I. Got a lot to say to
each other over their, food. eh?"
Positively disgusting" says Oggie.
I had to grin at that. But about
then some one began hammering with
big flower decorated table in the CEN
ter Of the room rises the poddy form
of Alonzo T. ellis. He's no longer
the meek party who lunched in a dark
corner. On his wide chest is pinned
saucer and around his shoulder he's
| wearin' a sort of crimson silk scarf
edged with gilt fringe. Also his big.
/ high -colored face is beamin'.
Noble knights and ladies'" he be-
gins in a thin. pipiu' voice.
At which uprises Gus the comedian.
Whats the matter with Gillisr' he
roars out.
Hes all right" the crowd roars
back at him.
who's all right?" insists Gus.
"Gillis" bowls the mob.
| Pinckney leans over to me and asks:
Il say, Shorty, who's your frfendT
!! He's the exalted supreme grand"
says I. Don't he look itT'
| Very nearly" says Pinckney.
Then Alonzo makes his little spiel.
1t amt much of a speech, and Alonzo
trips and stumbles here and there.
but he gets away with 1t after a
fashion and Is rewarded with as much
applause as II he'd made old William
Jennings Demosthenes look like a
piker. The gist of it was that he's
glad to be with 'em once more. and
/ he's also glad to see SO many Noble
knights and fair ladies for the annual
conclave. and he hopes they'll all have
promote the good Uf the order.
Having got that out of his system
he announces that Noble Knight Gus
Parker will now favor the assemblage
tons. Which Gus promptly proceeds
to do. He gives an imitation OF Harry
Lauder. Anyway. he said that's what
1t was. Next Little Pete Is called on
to render a vocal selection, and Pete
was right there with the goods. gfvin'
'em Rocked in the Cradle Of the
Deep" with the low notes comm
straight from his boots. We had to
let our roast turkey get cold while we
pretended to listen to 1t. The knights
didn't care. as they'd reached the ice
| cream course.
And so our dinner progressed. slow
and jerky. Neither Oggie nor Pinckney
had a chance to- shoot of any Of their
brilliant reparte<. At least II they did
nobody heard, for there was too much
competition. Oggie was plain peevish