He smiled as he read it, and handing it back, remarked, "Your warrant
is mere waste paper, gentlemen."
"Why is it?" asked Tarbox, defiantly.
"Because there is no such man as Enoch in this show."
"Isn't that his name?" asked Tarbox.
"No, it isn't. If you can find a man by that name you are welcome to
take him."
"Crushed again," remarked Charlie Davis, mockingly.
Tarbox made a grab for the boy's collar, but failed to secure him.
"Come along out, Spriggins," he said, in a tone of deep depression.
"You can go if you like," said the constable, independently; "I'm going
to stay and see the show."
CHAPTER VII.
THE EVENING ENTERTAINMENT.
Nathan Tarbox was not a liberal man. Indeed he had the reputation of
being very close-fisted and mean. Never had he been known to invite a
friend to a place of amusement, never had he been willing to incur the
expense of a dime for another. Yet here he had paid fifty cents for a
ticket of admission to the circus, and presented it to the constable.
We know, however, why he did this. He saw no other way of compassing
his revenge upon the giant who had so grievously offended him, and
revenge even outweighed money in his eyes.
Well, it had turned out a failure. In spite of the cowardice of
Spriggins something might have been accomplished, and at all events the
Norwegian might have been put in the attitude of a man defying the law,
which would have made the eventual penalty greater. But there had been
a ridiculous error in the warrant—an error for which he was compelled
to admit that he himself was responsible. Thus he was balked of his
vengeance, for the time being at least, and he was a dollar out of
pocket. That Spriggins should deliberately disobey him and stay to see
the show was aggravating. He would rather have thrown the money away.
"Goin' to stay and see the show!" repeated Tarbox, angrily. "You can't
do it, Spriggins."
"Why can't I?"
"I didn't buy you the ticket for no such purpose."
"Can't help that, Mr. Tarbox. I should be a fool to leave the show, now
I'm in, and my ticket paid for."
"Then, Mr. Spriggins, I shall expect you to repay me the fifty cents I
spent for your ticket."
"You must excuse me, Mr. Tarbox; you paid me in. I didn't ask you to,
but now I'm in I'm goin' to stay. I wouldn't have come to pay my own
ticket, for I'm a poor man, and I can't afford it."
"Do you think I can afford to throw away a dollar on two tickets?"
demanded the farmer, angrily.
"I should say you could if you wanted to. You're pretty well off, and if
I was as rich as you I wouldn't mind goin' to anything that comes round."
"You don't know anything about my circumstances. Besides I guess
they'll give me my money back, if I tell 'em how I was deceived into
buyin' tickets."
"Ask them, if you want to. If they'll do it, I'll go out."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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