jammed house of the most
astonished countrymen, women and children you ever set eyes upon. They
did not know what to make of it, but they swallowed it all in the most
good-natured manner possible. We introduced bits of 'The Old Homestead,'
'The Two Orphans,' 'Rip Van Winkle,' slices of Shakespeare, Augustus
Thomas, George Ade, and other great writers, so you see we were giving
them bits of the best living and dead dramatists. Our native
Shakespeares do the same thing nowadays in all of their original works,
and that's no idle fairy tale. We sandwiched comedy, drama, tragedy, and
farce, and interlarded the mixture with Victor Herbert and Oscar
Hammerstein's opera comique and May Irwin coon songs. Such a
presentation of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' was never before presented, and I am
free to confess the chances are never will be again. We actually played
the town on the other fellow's paper. It wasn't exactly according to
Hoyle, but then any reasonable thinking man will concede that necessity
knows no law, and as the country people came to see a show it would have
been a grievous sin to have disappointed them.

"It did not take us long to strike tent and hurry on board when the
curtain fell on the last act. By this time the fog had lifted. As there
was a breeze we made sail and stood out for the open sea. It was near
the top of high water as we passed the point, and there we saw the
steamer going in. She had run on a sandbar in the fog and was compelled
to stay there for high water to get off. That's how the other fellow got
left and how we turned his mishap to our advantage."

CHAPTER IV

"Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren
ground.... The wills above be done, but I would fain die a dry
death."
--TEMPEST.

By midnight the _Gem of the Ocean_ was well out in the Sound. A stiff
breeze was now blowing, and the little craft was footing it at a rapid
rate. Handy was now in his native element. He and his company felt that
they had turned a clever trick. It was an achievement worthy of the most
accomplished barnstormer. The idea of playing the town on the other
fellow's paper, ye gods! it was an accomplishment to feel proud of;
something to be stored away in the memory; something to be set aside for
future use when nights were long and congenial companions were gathered
about a cheerful fireside to listen to stories of days gone by.

Supper disposed of, the company were gro