CHAPTER XII. THE PEOPLE OF THE "ZONE."
When Rob and his chum left the building they carried the empty suitcase;and besides, Professor Marsh had written and signed a long and effusivemessage to his learned colleague in care of Judge Collins, at Hampton,Long Island, which Rob was empowered to send, at his own expense, by wireas a night letter.
"That job is done," said Rob, with the air of one who has gotten rid of aload that had been on his mind.
"And just to think how we can enjoy ourselves for weeks if we feel likestaying that long," pursued the happy Andy, fairly bubbling over withenthusiasm and joy.
"Even when we decide to start back home," laughed Rob, "the fun isn'tover by a huge sight."
"You mean, Rob, we'll have the time of our lives traveling across theCanadian Rockies, taking in wonderful scenery that is better, lots ofpeople say, than anything across in Switzerland?"
"Yes," said the scout leader, "and if we choose to stop over for a day ortwo to try the trout fishing at a lake we were told about, haven't we gotour rods and other material along in our trunk?"
"It takes a wideawake fellow like you to think of every little detail,for a fact!" declared Andy, with genuine admiration.
"Oh! I'm far from perfect, I want you to know," the other told him. "Ican remember plenty of times when I've found that, after all, the verything of most importance was forgotten or neglected. But it pays to tryand cover the ground. It saves lots of trouble and disappointment in thelong run."
"I believe you, Rob; with me it seems as though I fall into the way ofletting some other fellow do my thinking for me. I know it's wrong, butanyhow it's satisfying to have that confidence in your chum."
"You didn't think of letting some other scout do your work for you at thetime you were learning the various bugle calls, I noticed, Andy."
"Shucks! that's different," returned the other, hastily. "Now that youmention it, I can't remember ever asking a substitute to do my _eating_for me when meal time rolled around. Guess you must be right, though,Rob; some of these days I intend to wake up and even think for myself."
"Believe me you can't make that day any too soon, Andy. If you happenedto find yourself cast adrift on a big desert you would be sorry youdelayed so long, though, if you pulled through alive, it might be themaking of you."
"Oh! I'll buckle down to the job without being forced that way," Andyhurriedly assured the scout leader. "What's the next thing on theprogram?"
"I know you're just dying to get into the amusement section of theExposition called the Zone, and which is a good deal like the Streets ofCairo and the Midway of the Chicago Fair. I'll make a bargain with you,Andy."
"All right; let's hear the particulars," exclaimed the other eagerly.
"First of all," began Rob, "I want to get rid of this suitcase, and we'llmake for that tobacconist's odd booth, to leave it with him until we'regoing back to the hotel."
"That's over this way, past the big California building, with the Oregonone that has a colonnade of logs alongside. Well, after we've shunted thebag on the man who runs the tobacco shop, what next?"
"We'll put in the rest of the morning," Rob explained, "in rummagingthrough some of these places clustering around the Tower of Jewels. I'vegot a string of things I'm wild to see, and that's as good a place tomake a start as anywhere."
"That brings us to noon, when we agreed to meet Hiram, you remember, forlunch?" Andy reminded his chum.
"Yes, and I understand there are dozens and dozens of eating places to befound in the Zone. If you want you can have an Arab dinner, a Chinesechop suey, a French meal _a la carte_, a German one, or anything yourtaste calls for. So we might as well head that way for our lunch, andpick out a place that seems to promise good things for hungry fellows."
"Huh! after I once get inside the Zone, Rob, nothing can drag me outagain for the whole afternoon. So, I hope you've concluded to make asacrifice, and devote the rest of the day to keeping me company inroaming around among all the queer sights they tell me you can run upagainst there."
Rob nodded his head and smiled.
"I promise you that, Andy, because I know you too well to believe therecould be any peace until you have had your way. Yes, and I admit that Ican get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing all those foreign things, aswell as the more important exhibits in Machinery Hall and such places."
"Sure thing," said Andy, with an assumption of great sagacity. "In onecase we are shown wonderful development in the world's progress along thelines of science and commerce; while in the Zone you can see man himselfas he appears all over this ball, how he lives, what his forefathers havedone for ages and ages in the past, and in fact study human nature. To methat is better than gaping at some machine I never could understand in alifetime."
By this time they had reached the shop where arrangements had been madewith the obliging proprietor to act as a medium of exchange between thethree scouts during their stay. The empty suitcase was disposed of andonce more the boys started out to gaze upon some of the myriad strangesights that were to be met with on every hand.
Doubtless Rob took a considerably greater amount of interest in what theyviewed during those several hours than did his companion, though now andthen Andy managed to display more or less enthusiasm.
It would be utterly impossible to mention the things they saw as theywandered hither and thither about that section of the grounds. Even aguide-book of the Exposition would have to skim over the details, suchwere the numberless attractions on every hand.
"Getting on toward noon, Rob!" suggested Andy, finally, as he laid a handon his stomach, as if to call attention to the fact that it was unusuallyflat.
"And there's Hiram coming this way, too, as if he was beginning toremember his promise to meet us for lunch. I wonder if we can keep himwith us the rest of the day?"
"Not unless you get a rope and tie him," chuckled Andy, "for he's cleangone daffy over the line of exhibits he fancies most, and will haunt thatpart of the Exposition nearly all the time we're here."
Hiram caught sight of them about that moment, and hurried over.
"Just on the way to the meeting-place," he announced. "Knew it was neargrub time and wanted to get it over with. Say, they've got the greatestlot of things worth while on exhibition over there in the buildingdevoted to inventions you ever saw. And the aviation field is a peach. Mystars! but they're a busy bunch of willing, hustling workers there."
Rob had been studying the other's face, and it told him something.
"You found your firm represented there, of course, Hiram?" he remarked.
"'Course they are, and cutting some high jinks, too," came the reply."They've got some of their finished products working in the field, withair pilots of national renown in charge of the flights. You must get overthat way some time and see."
"We will, perhaps before the day is done," Rob assured him; "but Isuppose now, Hiram, you didn't introduce yourself to the Golden Gatepeople?"
"Naw. I just took it all in, and browsed around everywhere, laughing tomyself to think how surprised they were going to be when they found outthat the Hiram Nelson, inventor of the wonderful stabilizer foraeroplanes, was only a Boy Scout. But what are we going into the Zonefor, tell me?"
"Why, to get something to eat, to be sure," remarked Andy.
"But I'm no cannibal," expostulated Hiram, holding back in pretendedalarm; "even if they do have that stripe of people here on exhibition. Idon't hanker after trying a roast Fiji Islander, or a fricasseed Igorrotefrom the Philippine Islands--I'm not _that_ hungry."
"Oh!" Andy told him, tugging at his sleeve, "we'll find a thousand placeshere where they cook meals after the fashion of every nation under thesun. I hope we pick out one that is close to that giant seesaw; becauseI'm wild to go up in it so as to get a magnificent view of the harbor,the Exposition grounds and the City of San Francisco."
It was found to be an easy matter to accomplish this, and they were soon
being served at a table that stood out-of-doors, so that as they enjoyedtheir lunch they could watch the endless procession of people passing andrepassing.
As so many attractions in the amusement concession were connected withforeign countries, it was really almost as good as being abroad to seethe various representative types that sauntered or hurried by.
"I wonder how many of those Arabs, Turks, Algerians, Persians, Hindoos,Hottentots and others are the real thing, and how many rank fakes,"suggested Hiram.
"That's more than anybody can tell," laughed Rob. "It's the easiest thingto put stain on the skin of an Irishman, dress him in the Oriental style,clap a red fez on his head, and then call him a Turk. Only he has to keephis tongue tight-locked; because his brogue would give him away. If youlisten to them chattering in their own tongue you can tell which are thereal thing."
"As for me," spoke up Andy, frankly, "I just don't question any of them,but take it for granted they're what they make out to be. And I want tosay, fellows, it's the biggest treat to me to be here, watching thecongress of all the nations and people on the globe."
Hiram's lip curled and he snickered, but Andy pretended not to hear. ToHiram's mind any one who could confess to caring for such frivolousthings when there was a building not far away just jammed with the mostmarvelous inventions known to modern science and ingenuity--well, itbordered on silliness. But then "many men, many minds," and perhaps it isjust as well that people do not all think alike. There is a deal of truthin that old proverb to the effect that what is "one man's food may beanother's poison."
So they sat there for a long time while the procession of Head Huntersfrom Borneo, natives of the island of Ceylon, South American _vaqueros_in their picturesque attire, pigmies from the heart of Africa, Mexicanbull-fighters, Moros from our island possessions in the Orient, Chinese,Japanese, Servians, Tyrolese mountain climbers and yodlers, and amultitude of others continued to pass, many of them coming from thevillages and side shows of the great amusement park.
From time to time the amazing arm of the giant Aeroscope would project upagainst the heavens, the car filled with those visitors who wished toobtain a view of their surroundings.
Every time it arose, slowly but majestically, Andy would stop talking togape and watch, as though just then the one longing in his heart was totake that skyward trip.
Rob knew it would be the very first thing Andy would want to do afterthey left the table; and indeed, he was not feeling at all averse tocomplying with such a request, for it seemed as if the extensive view tobe obtained must be well worth the price charged for the trip aloft.
"Three hundred and sixty-five feet they say in the guide book," Andygushed; "and all for a small sum in the bargain. I wouldn't miss thatsight for ten times fifty cents. Why, only for the Rockies being in theway, with a _real good_ glass you might get even a peep in at Hamptontown, unless one of those nasty sea fogs blocked you off," and then, ofcourse, he had to laugh himself at the idea of any glass being able tocover a distance of something like three thousand miles.