He dashed back to the saloon, followed by Hodge and Gallup; but when he reached the place nearly all the crowd had left, the man he sought having departed with the others.
Frank was disappointed. He learned at the saloon that the accused man had not removed the beard, but had sneaked out in a hurry after Frank was gone.
Returning to the theater, Merry was informed that Burns was behaving strangely.
“He seems to be doped,” declared Hodge. “I think he has been drugged.”
Burns was in a dressing room, and Havener was working to keep the man awake, although the old actor was begging to be allowed to sleep.
As soon as Frank saw him he dispatched one of the supers for a physician.
The doctor came and gave Burns a powerful emetic, following that with a dose of medicine that seemed to brace the man up. Thus Burns was pulled into shape for the afternoon performance, although Frank realized that he had very nearly wrecked everything.
Burns remained in the theater, and lunch was brought him there.
“Mr. Merriwell,” he said, “I will surprise you by the manner in which I’ll play my part this afternoon. It shall be burlesque of a kind that’ll satisfy you.”
The performance was to begin at two o’clock. Some time before that people began to arrive, and they came fast. At two o’clock there were nearly five hundred persons in the auditorium.