This they reluctantly assented to, keeping, however, a close hand upon me. As we walked up the main street, the mob received a re-enforcement of some fifty or sixty, and I was marched like a malefactor up to the hotel. Old Turner stood on the piazza ready to explode with laughter. I appealed to him for heaven’s sake to explain this matter, that I might be liberated. He continued to laugh, but finally told them “he believed there was some mistake about it. The fact is,” said he, “my friend Barnum has a new suit of black clothes on and he looks so much like a priest that I thought he must be Avery.” The crowd saw the joke and seemed satisfied. My new coat had been half torn from my back and I had been very roughly handled. But some of the crowd apologized for the outrage, declaring that Turner ought to be served in the same way, while others advised me to “get even with him.” I was very much offended, and when the mob dispersed I asked Turner what could have induced him to play such a trick upon me. [Illustration: _BARNUM ON A RAIL._] “My dear Mr. Barnum,” he replied, “it was all for our good. Remember, all we need to insure success is notoriety. You will see that this will be noised all about town as a trick played by one of the circus managers upon the other, and our pavilion will be crammed to-morrow night.” It was even so; the trick was told all over town and every one came to see the circus managers who were in a habit of playing practical jokes upon each other. We had fine audiences while we remained at Annapolis, but it was a long time before I forgave Turner for his rascally “joke.” CHAPTER VI. MY FIRST TRAVELLING COMPANY. THREE MEALS AND LODGING IN ONE HOUR--TURNING THE TABLES ON TURNER--A SON AS OLD AS HIS FATHER--LEAVING THE CIRCUS WITH TWELVE HUNDRED DOLLARS--MY FIRST TRAVELLING COMPANY--PREACHING TO THE PEOPLE--APPEARING AS A NEGRO MINSTREL--THREATENED WITH ASSASSINATION--ESCAPES FROM DANGER--TEMPERANCE--REPORT OF MY ARREST FOR MURDER--RE-ENFORCING MY COMPANY--“BARNUM’S GRAND SCIENTIFIC AND MUSICAL THEATRE”--OUTWITTING A SHERIFF--“LADY HAYES’S” MANSION AND PLANTATION--A BRILLIANT AUDIENCE--BASS DRUM SOLO--CROSSING THE INDIAN NATION--JOE PENTLAND AS A SAVAGE--TERROR AND FLIGHT OF VIVALLA--A NONPLUSSED LEGERDEMAIN PERFORMER--A MALE EGG-LAYER--DISBANDING MY COMPANY--A NEW PARTNERSHIP--PUBLIC LECTURING--DIFFICULTY WITH A DROVER--THE STEAMBOAT “CERES”--SUDDEN MARRIAGE ON BOARD--MOBBED IN LOUISIANA--ARRIVAL AT NEW ORLEANS.