Again the bugle blew. The charitable crowd instantly ceased to look at their guests and gazed at the electric traveling-cranes carrying laden trays. Over six thousand well-fed spectators pulled out their watches and timed the entrée.
It took twenty-nine seconds to place the entrée before the guests.
"Quick work!" said the watch-holders, approvingly. It took the guests much less than twenty-nine seconds to eat the entrée.
The bugle blew for the third time.
The roast appeared. The rear curtain dropped. Behind it was another on which could be read, without the aid of binoculars:
WATCH THEM EAT!
YOUR TICKET DID IT!
H. R.
It happened exactly as H. R. had told Bishop Phillipson. Each charitable person thought of his particular ticket and looked for his individual guest among the 12,137.
Each charitable person felt that his twenty-five cents had made possible the entire feast. At that moment H. R. could have been elected to any office within the gift of a free and sturdy people.