CHAPTER XVIII.
BARNEY ON HAND.
"Thot's me name, an' this is me marruck!" cried the Irish lad, from thedarkness.
There was a hurrying rush of feet, and then--smack! smack!--two darkfigures were seen flying through the darkness as if they had been struckby battering-rams.
"Hurrah!" cheered Frank, thrusting the revolver into his pocket, andhastening to leap into the battle. "Give 'em glory, Barney!"
"Hurro!" shouted the Irish youth. "Th' United Shtates an' Ould Oirelandforiver! Nothing can shtand against th' combination!"
This unexpected assault was too much for Manuel Mazaro and hissatellites.
"Car-r-r-ramba!" snarled the Spaniard. "Dis treek is spoiled! We willhave to try de odare one, pardnares."
"We're reddy fer yer thricks, ye shnakes!" cried Barney.
"Are you armed?" asked Frank.
"To th' muzzle wid grape-shot an' canister!" was the reply.
But the boys were not compelled to resort to deadly weapons, for theSpaniard and his gang suddenly took to their heels, and seemed to meltaway in the darkness.
"Musha! musha!" gasped Barney. "Where hiv they gone, Oi dunno?"
"They've skipped."
"An' lift us widout sayin' good-avenin'?"
"So it seems."
"Th' impoloight rascals! They should be ashamed av thimsilves!"
"Barney!"
"Frankie!"
"At school you had a way of always showing up just when you were neededmost, and you have not gotten over it."
"It's harrud to tache an ould dog new thricks, Frankie."
"You don't want to learn any new tricks; the old ones you know are allright. Barney, give me your hand."
"Frankie, here it is, an' I'm wid yez, me b'y, till Oi have ter laveyez, which won't be in a hurry, av Oi know mesilf."
The two lads clasped hands in the darkness of the passage.
"Now," said Frank, "to get out of this place."
"Th' sooner th' quicker."
"Which way shall we go?"
"Better go th' way we came in."
"Right, Barney. But how in the world did you happen to appear at such anopportune moment? That sticks me."
"Oi saw yez, me b'y, whin th' crowd was cheerin' fer yez, but Oicouldn't get to yez, though Oi troied me bist."
"And you followed."
"Oi did, but it's lost yez Oi would, av ye wasn't sane to come in hereby thim as wur watchin' av yez."
"Which was dead lucky for me."
"Thot it wur, me darlint, unliss ye wanter to shoot th' spalpanes ye wurwid. Av they'd crowded yez, Oi reckon ye'd found a way to dispose av th'lot."
"They were about to crowd me when I fired into the air."
"An' th' flash av th' revolver showed me yer face."
"That's how you were sure it was me, is it?"
"Thot wur wan way. Fer another, Oi hearrud yer voice, an' ye don'tsuppose Oi wouldn't know thot av Oi should hear it astraddle av th'North Pole, do yez?"
"Well, I am sure I knew your voice the moment I heard it, and the soundgave no small amount of satisfaction."
The boys now hurried back along the narrow passage, and soon reached thedoorway by which they had entered.
The procession had passed on, and the great crowd of people had meltedfrom the street.
As soon as they were outside the passage, Barney explained that he hadarrived in town that night, and had hurried to the St. Charles Hotel,but had found Professor Scotch in bed, and Frank gone.
"Th' profissor was near scared to death av me," said Barney. "Hewouldn't let me in th' room till th' bellboy had described me two orthray toimes over, an' whin Oi did come in, he had his head under th'clothes, an', be me soul! I thought by th' sound that he wur shakin'dice. It wuz the tathe av him chattering togither."
Frank was convulsed with laughter, while Barney went on:
"'Profissor,' sez Oi, 'av it's doice ye're shakin', Oi'll take a hand attin cints a corner.'"
"What did he do then?"
"He looked out at me over the edge av th' bed-sprid, an' he sez, sez he,'Are ye sure ye're yersilf, Barney Mulloy? or are ye Colonel Sally de laVilager'--or something av th' sort--'in disguise?'"
Frank laughed harder than before.
"What did you do then, Barney?"
"Oi looked at him, an' thot wur all Oi said. Oi didn't know what th' monmint, an' he samed to be too broke up to tell. Oi asked him where yowur, an' he said ye'd gone out to see th' parade. Whin Oi found out thotwur all Oi could get out av him, Oi came out an' looked fer yez."
When Frank had ceased to laugh, he explained the meaning of theprofessor's strange actions, and it was Barney's turn to laugh.
"So it's a duel he is afraid av, is it?"
"Yes."
"An' he wants a substitute?"
"Yes."
"Begobs, it's niver a duel was Oi in, but the profissor wuz koind to meat Fardale, an' it's a debt av gratitude Oi owe him, so Oi'll make mebluff."
"I do not believe Colonel Vallier will meet any one but ProfessorScotch, but the professor will be too ill to meet him, so he will haveto accept a substitute, or go without a fight."
"To tell ye th' truth, Frankie, Oi'd rather he'd refuse to accept, butit's an iligant bluff Oi can make."
"You're all right, Barney."
"Tell me what brought this duel aboit."
So Frank told the whole story about the rescue of the Flower Queen, theappearance of Rolf Raymond and Colonel Vallier, and how the masked girlhad called his name just as they were taking her away, with the resultalready known to the reader.
Barney was intensely interested.
"An' thot wur her Oi saw in th' parade to-noight?"
"Yes."
"She flung ye some flowers?"
"She did. It was her crown of flowers. I still have it here, although itis somewhat crushed."
"Ah, Frankie, me b'y, it's a shly dog ye are! Th' girruls wur forivergetting shtuck on yez, an' Oi dunno what ye hiv been doin' since l'avin'Fardale. It's wan av yer mashes this must be."
"I've made no mashes, Barney."
"Not m'anin' to, perhaps, but ye can't hilp it, laddybuck, fer they willget shtuck on yez, av ye want thim to or not. Ye don't hiv ter troy tocatch a girrul, Frankie."
"But I give you my word that I cannot imagine who this can be. All thecuriosity in my nature is aroused, and I am determined to know her namebefore I rest."
"Well, b'y, Oi'm wid yez. What shall we do?"
"Go to the place where the Krewe of Proteus holds its ball."
"Lade on."
As both were strangers in New Orleans, they did not know how to make theshortest cut to the ballroom, and Frank found it impossible to obtain acarriage. They were delayed most exasperatingly, and, when they arrivedat the place where the ball was to be held, the procession had brokenup, and the Queen of Flowers was within the ballroom.
"This is most unfortunate!" cried Frank, in dismay. "I meant to get hereahead of the procession, so that I could speak to her before she gotinside."
"Well, let's go in an' spake to her now."
"We can't."
"Whoy not?"
"This is a very exclusive affair."
"An' we're very ixclusive paple."
"Only those having invitations can enter the ballroom."
"Is thot so? Thin it's outsoide we're lift. What can we do about thot?"
"Nothing."
"Is it too late to git invoitations?"
"They can't be bought, like tickets."
"Well, what koind av a shindig do ye call this, Oi dunno?"
Barney was thoroughly disgusted.
Frank explained that Professor Scotch had been able to procureinvitations, but neither of them had fancied they would care to attendthe ball, so the opportunity had been neglected.
"Whinever Oi can get something fer nothing, Oi take it," said Barney."It's a use Oi can make fer most things Oi get."
The two boys lingered outside the building. Fr
ank hoped the Flower Queenwould come out, and he would be able to speak to her before she entereda carriage and was carried away.
Sweet strains of music floated down to the ears of the restless lads,and, with each passing moment, Frank grew more and more disgusted withhimself.
"To think that I might be in there--might be waltzing with the Queen ofFlowers at this moment, if I had asked the professor to obtain theinvitations!" he cried.
"It's harrud luck!" said Barney; "but ye'll know betther next toime."
"Next time will be too late. In some way, I must meet this girl andspeak to her. I must, and I will!"
"That's th' shtuff, me b'y! Whiniver ye say anything loike thot, yealways git there wid both fate. Oi'll risk yez."
Two men in dress suits came out to smoke and get a breath of air. Theystood conversing within a short distance of the boys.
"She has been the sensation of the day," said one. "The whole city iswondering who she is."
"She seems determined to remain a mystery."
"Yes, for she has vanished from the ballroom in a most unaccountablemanner. No one saw her take her departure."
"Not even Rolf Raymond."
"No. He is as much mystified as anybody. The fellow knows her, but hepositively refuses to disclose her identity."
Frank's hand had fallen on Barney's arm with a grip of iron, and thefingers were sinking deeper and deeper into the Irish lad's flesh asthese words fell on their ears.
"It is said that the young fellow who saved her from the steer to-daydoes not know her."
"No. She saw him in the crowd to-night, and flung him her crown, callinghim a hero. He was nearly mobbed by the crowd, that was determined toknow his name, but he escaped in some way, and has not been seen since."
"That settles it!" Frank hissed in Barney's ear. "They are speaking ofthe Flower Queen."
"Sure," returned the Irish lad; "an' av yersilf, Frankie, b'y."
"She is no longer in the ballroom."
"No."
"We are wasting our time waiting here."
"Roight ye are."
"Then we will wait no longer. Come, we'll go to the hotel."