em away. Tell them to leave me be. Tell them I don't
know them--don't want to have them hanging round me. Tell them _I'm
your father_!" cried the Senator, his voice rising to a shout in his
distraction and alarm.

About 970 people were around him by this time.

"Goodness!" said Buttons; "you are in a fix. Why did you make yourself
so agreeable? and to so many? Why, it's too bad. One at a time!"

"Buttons," said the Senator, solemnly, "is this the time for joking?
For Heaven's sake get me away."

"Come then; you must run for it."

He seized the Senator's right arm. The little Domino clung to the
other. Away they started. It was a full run. A shout arose. So arises
the shout in Rome along the bellowing Corso when the horses are
starting for the Carnival races. It was a long, loud shout, gathering
and growing and deepening as it rose, till it burst on high in one
grand thunder-clap of sound.

Away the Senator went like the wind. The dense crowd parted on either
side with a rush. The Opera-house is several hundred feet in length.
Down this entire distance the Senator ran, accompanied by Buttons and
the little Domino. Crowds cheered him as he passed. Behind him the
passage-way closed up, and a long trail of screaming maskers pressed
after him. The louder they shouted the faster the Senator ran. At
length they reached the other end.

"Do you see that box?" asked Buttons, pointing to one on the topmost
tier.

"Yes, yes."

"Fly! Run for your life! It's your only hope. Get in there and hide
till we go."

The Senator vanished. Scarcely had his coat-tails disappeared through
the door when the pursuing crowd arrived there. Six thousand two
hundred and twenty-seven human beings, dressed in every variety of
costume, on finding that the runner had vanished, gave vent to their
excited feelings by a loud cheer for the interesting American who had
contributed so greatly to the evening's enjoyment.

Unlucky Senator! Will it be believed that even in the topmost box his
pursuers followed him? It was even so. About an hour afterward
Buttons, on coming near the entrance, encountered him. His face was
pale but resolute, his dress disordered. He muttered a few words about
"durned _I_talian countesses," and hurried out.

Buttons kept company with the little Domino. Never in his life had he
passed so agreeable an evening. He took good care to let his companion
know this. At length the crowd began to separate. The Domino would go.