But Uncle Moses refused to think of this. He was here, and here he
would remain until he had found David. He wanted the landlord to
help him in this task. Let him go out and mollify the people in
any way, and see if he could find anything about the lost boy. He
promised to pay any sum to the landlord, or anybody else, if they
would only effect his rescue.
This promise acted powerfully upon the landlord's cupidity, and he
thought that at any rate it would be well to try. So he told Uncle
Moses to wait, and he would see what could be done. He thereupon
left them, and Uncle Moses and the boys walked up stairs to that
same room in which they had dined before, when the uproar of the
people reached their ears. Here they sat down and waited in silence.
They did not have to wait very long. It was not more than a quarter
of an hour, or twenty minutes, when hurried footsteps were heard,
and the landlord rushed in, followed by the driver. Both were
agitated and disturbed. At the same instant an outcry arose from
without, and a tumult of eager and excited voices burst upon their
ears. The landlord clasped his hands, and stood listening. The
driver rushed to Uncle Moses, and cried,--
"Dey haf come!--de people! You are lost!"
At this Uncle Moses and the boys started to their feet aghast,
and Frank rushed to the window, and standing so as to be as little
observed as possible, he looked out.
In the street in front he saw an excited crowd, which was not so
large as it had been on that former memorable occasion, but which
promised to be so before another quarter of an hour, for people
were running up every minute, and adding to the uproar. The cries
grew louder and louder, and though Frank could not understand
the words, he perceived plainly enough that they were fierce
cries of anger and vengeance. And there, conspicuous among this
crowd, was that identical old woman--that villanous old virago,
who had caused all the former trouble, and seemed now bent upon
the full accomplishment of her furious purpose. Dancing, howling,
shrieking, she stood close by the door of the hotel, which was
now shut and barred, and shook her fists at the building, and
yelled out curses at those within, and called upon her fellow
citizens to break into the hotel, and seize the sacrilegious and
barbarous foreigners. Frank was a bold boy, but this sight was
too much for him. His heart sank within him, and he involuntarily
shrank back farther out of sight.
Soon the people outside began to throw at the party within something
harder than words. Stones came flying through the open windows,
and one of these missiles came very close to the head of Uncle
Moses. The landlord rushed forward, and closed all the shutters,
and barred them, while the boys gathered around Uncle Moses as
though to protect him from those savage assailants without.
"What shall we do?" asked Frank of the driver.
The driver shrugged his shoulders.
"Can't we drive through them as we did before?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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