Then
my crowd met pa's crowd right by the middle ring, where the elephants
had formed the pyramid that closes their act, and the Japanese jugglers
were in the right-hand ring, and a party of female tumblers, with
low-necked stockings, were standing at attention in the left-hand ring.
There was no intention of having a riot, but when pa yelled, "What's the
matter with Bryan?" a negro in my crowd yelled, "That's what's the
matter with Bryan," and he hit pa over the head with his Chinese
lantern, loaded with a warm hornets' nest as big as a football, which
had taken fire from the candle. Pa dropped his lantern and began to
fight hornets, and then all the white trash in pa's bunch rushed up and
began to whack my poor downtrodden negroes with their Chinese lanterns.
Of course, my fellows couldn't stand still and be mauled, and the
candles had warmed our hornets' nests so the hornets were crawling out
to see what was the trouble. Then every negro whacked a white man with a
hornets' nest and the audience fairly went wild with excitement.
[Illustration: He Hit Pa Over the Head with His Chinese Lanterns.]
The hornets got busy and went for the elephants and the Japanese
jugglers, and they stampeded like they never met a hornet before.
[Illustration: The Stampeded Like They Never Met a Hornet Before.
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