CHAPTER XIII.
A STAMPEDE IN A CITY.
It was the day before Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and the "Queen City ofthe South" was in her gayest attire, being thronged with visitors fromthe North and from almost every part of the world.
It was Monday, when Rex, king of the carnival, comes to town and takespossession of the city.
Early in the forenoon the river front in the vicinity of Canal Streetwas thronged with people seeking advantageous positions from which towitness the king's landing.
It was a jovial, good-natured gathering, such as is never seen in anyother city. Every one seemed to have imbibed the spirit of the occasion,and there was no friction or unpleasantness. Every one was exceedinglypolite and courteous, and all seemed to feel it a duty to make theoccasion as pleasant for other folks as possible.
The shipping along the river was decorated, and flags flew everywhere.The sun never shone more brightly and New Orleans never presented moresubtle allurements.
Seated in a private carriage that had stopped at a particularlyfavorable spot were Professor Scotch and Frank, who had arrived a fewdays before.
"Professor," said Frank, who was almost bursting with pent-up enthusiasmand youthful energy, "this makes a fellow feel that it is good to beliving. In all the places we have visited, I have seen nothing likethis. I am sorry Hans is no longer with us to enjoy it."
"And you will see nothing like it anywhere in this country but righthere," declared the professor, who was also enthused. "Northern citiesmay get up carnivals, but they allow the spirit of commerce to crowd inand push aside the true spirit of pleasure. In all their pageants andprocessions may be seen schemes for advertising this, that or the other;but here you will see nothing of the kind. In the procession to-day andthe parade to-morrow, you will see no trade advertisements, no schemesfor calling attention to Dr. Somebody-or-other's cure for ingrowingcorns, nothing but the beautiful and the artistic."
Frank laughed.
"It's seldom you speak like this, professor," he said. "You must be inlove with the South."
"I am a Northerner, but I think the South very beautiful, and I admirethe people of the South more than I can tell. I do not know as they arenaturally more gentle and kind-hearted than Northerners, but they arecertainly more courteous and chivalrous, despite their quick tempers andmore passionate dispositions. Northerners are too brusque. If they askpardon for rudeness, they do it as if they regretted the breath spent inuttering the words. It is quite the opposite with Southerners, for theyseem----"
"Hold on, professor," interrupted Frank. "You may tell me all about thatsome other time. Hark! hear the whistles on the river? The king must becoming!"
"Yes, he is coming."
There was a stir among the people, a murmur ran over the great throng.Then the royal yacht, accompanied by more than a dozen other steamers,all gayly decorated, was seen approaching.
The great crowd began to cheer, hundreds of whistles shrieked and roaredat the same instant, bands of music were playing, and, as the royalyacht drew near the levee at the foot of Canal Street, the booming ofcannons added to the mad uproar of joy.
All over the great gathering of gayly dressed people handkerchiefsfluttered and hats were waved in the air, while laughing, excited faceswere seen everywhere.
The mad excitement filled Frank Merriwell's veins, and he stood erect inthe carriage, waving his hat and cheering with the cheering thousands,although there was such an uproar at that moment that he could scarcelyhear his own voice.
The king, attired in purple and gold, was seen near the bow of the royalyacht, surrounded by courtiers and admirers.
To Frank's wonder, a dozen policemen had been able to keep Canal Streetopen for the procession from the levee as far as could be seen.Elsewhere, and on each side of the street, the throng packed thickly,but they seemed to aid the police in the work of holding the streetclear, so there was no trouble at all. Not once had Frank seen thepushing and swaying so often seen when great crowds assemble in Northerncities, and not once had the policemen been compelled to draw a club toenforce orders.
As the royal yacht drew into the jetty a gathering of city officers andleading citizens formed to greet and welcome him. These gentlemen wereknown as "dukes of the realm," and constituted the royal court. Theywere decorated with badges of gold and bogus jewels.
The yacht drew up at the levee, and King Rex, accompanied by his escort,landed, where he was greeted with proper ceremony by the dukes of therealm.
Then the king was provided with a handsomely decorated carriage, whichhe entered, and a procession was formed. The king's carriage somewhatresembled a chariot, being drawn by four mettlesome coal-black horses,all gayly caparisoned with gold and silver trimmings and nodding plumes.
A magnificent band of music headed the procession, and then came a bargethat was piled high with beautiful and fragrant flowers. In this bargewas a girl who seemed to be dressed entirely in flowers, and there was acrown of flowers on her head. She was masked, but did not seem to bemore than sixteen or seventeen years of age.
She was known as "the Queen of Flowers," and other girls, ladies of thecourt, dressed entirely in white, accompanied her.
The king's carriage followed the flower barge, and, directed by thequeen, who was seated on a throne of flowers, the girls scatteredflowers beneath the feet of the horses, now and then laughingly peltingsome one in the throng with them.
As the procession started, the cannons boomed once more, and the steamwhistles shrieked.
And then, in less than a minute, there came a startling interruption.The cheering of the people on one of the side streets turned to shrieksof terror and warning, and the crowd was seen to make a mad rush foralmost any place of shelter.
"What's the matter, Frank?" asked Professor Scotch, in alarm.
"Don't know," was the reply, as Frank mounted to the carriage seat, onwhich he stood to obtain a view. "Why, it seems that there are wildcattle in the street, and they're coming this way."
"Good gracious!" gasped the professor. "Drive on, driver--get out of theway quickly!"
"That's impossible, sir," replied the driver, immediately. "If I driveon, we are liable to be overturned by the rushing crowd. It is safer tokeep still and remain here."
"Those cattle look like Texas long-horns!" cried Frank.
"So they are, sir," assured the driver. "They have broken out of theyard in which they were placed this morning. They were brought here on asteamer."
"Texas long-horns on a stampede in a crowded city!" fluttered Frank."That means damage--no end of it."
In truth, nearly half a hundred wild Texan steers, driven to madness bythe shrieking whistles and thundering cannons, had broken out of thefraily constructed yard, and at least a dozen of them had stampededstraight toward Canal Street.
Persons crushed against each other and fell over each other in frantichaste to get out of the way for the cattle to pass. Some were throwndown and trampled on by the fear-stricken throng. Men shouted hoarsely,and women shrieked.
Mad with terror, blinded by dust, furious with the joy of suddenfreedom, the Texan steers, heads lowered, horns glistening, eyes glowingredly and nostrils steaming, charged straight into the crowd.
It was a terrible spectacle.
"For Heaven's sake, is there no way of stopping those creatures?" criedFrank.
"We'll all be killed!" quavered Professor Scotch.
Into Canal Street rushed the crowd, and the procession was broken up ina moment. The one thought of everybody seemed to be to get out of theway of the steers.
The horses on the flower barge became unmanageable, turned short,snorting with terror, and upset the barge, spilling flowers, girls, andall into the street. Then, in some way, the animals broke away, leavingthe wrecked barge where it had toppled.
The girls, with one exception, sprang up and fled in every direction.
The one exception was the Queen of Flowers, who lay motionless andapparently unconscious in the
street, with the beautiful flowers piledon every side of her.
"She is hurt!" cried Frank, who was watching her. "Why doesn't some onepick her up?"
"They do not see her there amid the flowers," palpitated the professor."They do not know she has not fled with the other girls!"
"The cattle--the steers will crush her!" shouted the driver.
"Not if I can save her!" rang out the clear voice of our hero.
Professor Scotch made a clutch at the lad, but too late to catch andhold him.
Frank leaped from the carriage, clearing the heads of a dozen persons,struck on his feet in the street, tore his way through the rushing,excited mob, and reached the side of the unconscious Flower Queen. Helifted her from the ground, and, at that very instant, a mad steer, withlowered head and bristling horns, charged blindly at them!