The little town which they
proposed to honor with a visit was not far from the water. A small grove
and a hill shut it out from a view of the Sound. The main road ran down
to a narrow inlet which served as a kind of harbor for fishing boats,
oyster sloops and clammers. Handy's well-trained eye lighted on an
eligible site for the tent. It was a nice level plot with a fence about
it. A good-natured Irishman named McGuiness owned the property, and
Handy lost no time in opening negotiations and getting on his right
side.

"An' yez want the use of the lot for a concert minstrel entertainment?"
inquired the proprietor.

"Yes," replied Handy, "and for to-morrow night."

"An' yez are going to give the show under the cover of a tint?"

"That's about the size of it."

"Have yez got the tint?"

"We have, and the show that goes with it, and what's more, after you
have witnessed the performance you'll say it is the best that ever
struck the town. Moreover, I want you to bring your whole family with
you and have seats in the first row for all of them."

"Well," said McGuiness, "I don't mind lettin' yez have the use of the
lot, an' I'll do all I kin, in a quiet way, to help yez along, but
there's one thing I want to be afther tellin' yez, an' it is this, that
I'm thinkin' there will be the divil to pay whin Mr. Dandelion finds out
there's going to be a minstrel entertainment here."

"How's that?" inquired Handy, "and who is Mr. Dandelion?"

"He's a very dacint kind of man, as min run at present," replied
McGuiness, "even if he is a Methodist preacher, but he hates showmin
like snakes. He don't seem to want the young people to have any fun or
amusement at all, at all, shure. That's why I'm afraid he will raise
ould Harry when he finds yez here. An' then again, don't yez see,
there's a fair goin' on in his church, an' to-morrow is to be the big
day, and iv yez are goin' to have your show to-morrow night, don't yez
see he may think you would draw off some of his customers? Well, I don't
go to his church, God help me, so yez kin have the use of the ground.
But looka heer. Whisper, if it's all the same to you, don't put up the
tint till after nightfall. I'll see yez again. I'm goin' home now," and
Mr. McGuiness walked slowly up the road.

"Smith, me boy," spoke Handy, as soon as Mr. McGuiness was out of
hearing, "we have struck a bonanza. Are we in it? Well, this is the best
ever! Say, old fellow, when that sky-pilot casts his