nder ailed him, anyway; he was
uncertain whether he was sick, or just plain scared. "Feel all right,
Chip?" he pursued; anxiously.

"Sure," said Chip, with characteristic brevity. "I wonder who those
silver-mounted spurs are for, there on the tree? They've been put on
since this afternoon--can't yuh stretch your neck enough to read the
name, Cal? They're the real thing, all right."

Weary's dejection became more pronounced. "Oh, mamma! am I the only
knock-kneed son-of-a-gun in this crowd?" he murmured, and turned
disconsolately away. His spine was creepy cold with stage fright; he
listened to the sounds beyond the shielding curtain and shivered.

Just then Johnny and Happy Jack appeared looking rather red and guilty,
and Johnny was thrust unceremoniously forward to welcome his kind
friends and still the rising clamor.

Things went smoothly after that. It is true that Weary, as the
Japanese Dwarf, halted the Wax-works and glared glassily at the faces
staring back at him while the alarm clock buzzed unheeded against his
spine. _Mrs. Jarley_, however, was equal to the emergency. She
proceeded calmly to wind him up the second time, gave Weary an
admonitory kick and whispered, "Come alive, yuh chump," and turned to
the audience.

"This here Japanese Dwarf I got second-handed at a bargain sale for
three-forty-nine, marked down for one week only," she explained
blandly. "I got cheated like h--like I always do at them bargain
sales, for it's about wore out. I guess I can make the thing work well
enough to show yuh what it's meant to represent, though." She gave
Weary another kick, commanded him again to "Come out of it and get
busy," and the Dwarf obediently ate its allotted portion of poison.
And every one applauded Weary more enthusiastically than they had the
others, for they thought it was all his part. So much for justice.

"Our last selection will be a tableau entitled, 'Under the Mistletoe,'"
announced the schoolma'am's clear tones. Then she took up her guitar
and went down from the stage to where the Little Doctor waited with her
mandolin. While the tableau was being arranged they meant to play
together in lieu of a regular orchestra. The schoolma'am's brow was
smooth, for the entertainment had been a success so far; and the
tableau would be all right, she was sure--for Weary had charge of that.
She hoped that Happy Jack would not hate it so very much, and that it
would help to break the ice betwe