he wheel, and turned it
beautifully. Tiffles had arranged a system of signals with him. One
cough was "Stop;" two coughs were "Go on;" one stamp was "Slower;" two,
stamps were "Faster." Tiffles and Stoop rehearsed the system several
times, the one being before the curtain, in the position of the
lecturer, and the other behind it, at the crank. Nothing could be more
satisfactory.

"Only one thing puzzles me," said Tiffles to his friends. "Why do they
call this smart fellow an idiot?"

CHAPTER V.

AN AUDIENCE ANALYZED.

The eventful night came on. Tiffles and friends fortified themselves
with a poor supper, including numerous cups of weak black tea, at the
hotel, and repaired, full of anxiety and misgivings, to the hall. The
idiotic but intelligent Stoop had remained in charge of the panorama,
and feasted himself, intellectually, upon the splendors of that work of
Art, as disclosed by a single candle in front.

All the candles in the hall and the entry were then lighted up, and
produced quite a gorgeous illumination of the four windows fronting on
the main street. This having been done, Marcus (who, having a more
extensive acquaintance with the faces of bank bills than either of his
friends, had kindly consented to act as money taker and cashier) took
his seat in a little box with a pigeon hole in it, and his entire stock
of loose change, amounting to seventy-five cents in silver, spread
before him. Tiffles stood within the door of the hall, to see that
nobody came in (especially small boys) who had not paid. Stoop remained
behind the scenes, and was positively instructed to stay there. Patching
wandered up and down the hall, as if he were an early comer, and had
paid his quarter, and had no personal knowledge of or interest in
the panorama.

Performance was to commence at 8 o'clock. Doors were open at 61/2. Some
time previous to that hour, the stairs leading from the street door to
the hall were lined with the lads of the village, who amused themselves
with making jocular remarks about "the man in the cage there" (meaning
Marcus), and "t'other man at the door, whose shirt was out of jail"
(meaning Tiffles). Marcus smiled grimly at his assailants through the
small pigeon hole; and Tiffles, who felt reckless in the sure view of a
failure, laughed heartily at them, returned jokes as bad as they sent,
but, in the height of his humor, begged them distinctly to understand
that they could not get In without paying.