Tip Top Weekly No. 139: Frank Merriwell's Father — page 29: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

TIP TOP WEEKLY. Frank was ready to drop. Even then he could not believe it. “Why, it isn’t possible!” “It’s true, Mr. Merriwell. a lump.” “In a lumpe”’ “To one man.” : | “One man! Why, it can’t be anybody is going to be foolish enough to try to speculate on those tickets?” “T should say not! seats in the house!” It was not remarkable that Frank’s aston- ishment increased apace. : “The poorest seats?” he cried. “Why should anybody do that?’ “So you could have the better ones for sale and not have to turn anybody who desired a good seat away. That was what he said.” “Look here!” exclaimed Frank. “Who was this lunatic who did such a thing?” “T don’t know,” answered Renshaw. “He was an old man with white hair and’ beard, a marble face, the keenest eyes I ever saw, and a roll of bills as big as your leg.” “My father!” gasped Frank. he cried. IT sold them in He took the poorest CHAPTER IX. A REMARKABLE AUDIENCE. That night the theatre was filled with the strangest audience that ever gathered to see a traveling show in Kansas City. It was an audience made up of beardless young men and jolly boys, together with a large num- | ber of girls of all ages from ten to nineteen, They came pouring in in pairs and flocks, and all seemed supplied with tickets, so it was not necessary for them to approach the box office. | Early in the evening the strange white- haired man had called again at the box office and taken four hundred tickets more. Tihis time. he was accompanied by eight young men, to whom he gave five fiity tickets each, instructing them to distribute them hastily but judiciously among their particular friends and acquaintances. The young men departed in a hurry, and the strange old man walked down the steps and disappeared, something like a grim smile of satisfaction on his mar- ble face. | Of course some tickets were sold to people who came for them, and thus it came about that the theatre was well filled that night be- fore it was time for the curtain to go up. That it was a rather noisy audience must be admitted.: There was a great amount of chattering and laughter. Amid the chatter- ~ What Was the Queerest Scoue Clif Ever Witnessed in His Eventful Lue? True Bloe No. 30. 27 ing the name of Frank Merriwell passed from lip to lip. Here and there were young fellows and even young girls who were tell- ing their interested friends all the things they had heard about Frank Merriwell. Enthusi- asm began to run pretty high before the or- chestra came out and prepared to play. It was plain the youthiul audience was having hard work to hold itself in check. The orchestra played a lively. piece, and the curtain went up with a rush. The play was on, and the audience soon began to show in- terest in it. But it was plain that everyone was waiting for something—waiting for somebody. Shortly after the curtain went up a tall, marble-faced man, with white hair and beard, entered the right hand proscenium box. His appearance caused a stir, and then there was a great clapping of hands all over the house. As there was nothing in the play to bring applause just then, everyone knew it was meant for the man in the box, Mr. Phen:x, of Arizona. He stepped to the front, looked over the sea of youthful faces with his keen eyes, and then there came a strange look to his usually immobile face. He smiled a smile -. of genuine pleasure. By his will and his generosity all these young people had gathered here to see and hear the play—to see and hear Frank Merri- well. And this was the man who had talked of -his own selfishness! Mr. Phenix retired and sat down where he could watch the stage. Ephraim Gallup came on and quickly caught the fancy of the house,.as he had on his previous appearances. His song provoked such shouts of genuine youthful merriment as had never before been heard in that theatre. Ephraim was happy. Playing to such an audience, he felt perfectly at home, and no Yankee comedian on the American stage could have done the part better. But the comedians were gone, and the lines and action indicated that the star of the piece was to enter. Then there was a great hush, as if every person in that theatre were holding his or her breath. : It came! At the proper moment, dressed in his picturesque Western rig, Frank came bounding on the stage. | Then what happened actually bewildered him. As one being that audience rose and greeted him with wild, ringing youthful yells. Boys and young men waved hats and caps, while girls stood on the seats and fluttered their handkerchiefs and added their shrill voices to the uproar of sound. GON GooOo SS CO)