incoherent in his oft repeated explanations. Meanwhile the crowd grew
larger and larger, till hundreds were gathered together. All the
Plaisance was coming to see what extraordinary affair was taking place.

When all the debris was pulled off of Johnny he concluded to get up. He
tried to make them understand that he wanted out, but they could not get
his meaning, for he was so bewildered that he was pointing in another
direction from the gate. At last one seemed to comprehend, and he ran as
fast as he could go to one of the huts toward which Johnny seemed to
point, and returned leading one of the damsels of the place who, from
gorgeousness of native modesty, seemed to be the belle of the village.
The native evidently thought that Johnny was in love with the girl, and
that he had taken this unceremonious method as the last desperate chance
of his life to obtain her. The native was presenting her to him with all
his natural suaveness, and was apparently offering him the freedom of
the town, when the gate opened and two officers rushed in. One of them
took Johnny by the ear and led him outside. People were packed about the
place in enormous masses, and every available fence or elevation was
utilized by the crowd struggling to see. A dozen or more policemen were
outside endeavoring to handle the mass of people. It took half an hour
for them to make a way to get John to the outside. When they saw Johnny,
a great shout was set up, but it only added to the fright that already
possessed Johnny's whole mind.

All sorts of stories were afloat among the people. Some said the
Dahomeys had captured a boy the night before and were just on the eve of
sacrificing him to their idols when a policeman got track of what was
going on. As some policemen passed this part of the crowd they were
cheered, cheer on cheer, for their keenness and bravery in rescuing an
American from such a fate. Others, who claimed to know, said it was
worse even than that, for one of the policemen had confided to him that
the Dahomey people were about to practice canabalism and had secured
the boy in order to eat him. A number were sure that this would cause
our government to have these people sent back to Dahomey and as they
were under the French government and were brought here by French people
it would probably lead to an open rupture between the two republics and
perhaps involve all Europe in a struggle for national existence.

The reporters ran the rumors do