"My land, was it you crawling around in the dark?" the woman who had begun the screaming asked in amazement. "Don't you know any better than to scare folks out of their wits?"
"Ladies and gentlemen," began the snake charmer diplomatically, "now that your fears have been proved groundless, may I ask for your kindest attention? I want to present to you Richard the Third, the noblest snake——"
She began to fondle and exhibit her snakes and the crowd pressed closer. Ward made all haste to get further away from the woman who had been frightened. He was afraid she might begin to scold again, but she was too interested in the snake charmer to remember her fright.
The Riddle Club stayed till the last snake had been put back in its box and then came out, the strong sunlight making their eyes blink after the darkness.
"Say, this is your unlucky day all right, Ward," said the grinning Fred. "First your pass is no good for peanuts and then you give the whole snake show a regular fit. Now here's the fat boy. We'll go see him, and if he takes you for his brother, don't blame me."
Ward was fat, there was no denying the fact. But he was not as fat as the lad they found propped up in a red velvet chair on a little red velvet platform. This boy looked as though he might be ten or twelve years old, but he was fatter than Mr. Higsby, the fattest man in River Bend.
"Willis King, the fattest boy for his age in the world," read Artie.
"Sh! That isn't polite," Polly reproved him. "You'll hurt his feelings."
"No, he won't. I'm used to that," the fat boy answered, for he had overheard. "I know I'm fat, and I don't mind if people do say so."