Frank Merriwell Down South Part 21

The mad excitement filled Frank Merriwell's veins, and he stood erect in the carriage, waving his hat and cheering with the cheering thousands, although there was such an uproar at that moment that he could scarcely hear his own voice.

The king, attired in purple and gold, was seen near the bow of the royal yacht, surrounded by courtiers and admirers.

To Frank's wonder, a dozen policemen had been able to keep Ca.n.a.l Street open for the procession from the levee as far as could be seen.

Elsewhere, and on each side of the street, the throng packed thickly, but they seemed to aid the police in the work of holding the street clear, so there was no trouble at all. Not once had Frank seen the pushing and swaying so often seen when great crowds a.s.semble in Northern cities, and not once had the policemen been compelled to draw a club to enforce orders.

As the royal yacht drew into the jetty a gathering of city officers and leading citizens formed to greet and welcome him. These gentlemen were known as "dukes of the realm," and const.i.tuted the royal court. They were decorated with badges of gold and bogus jewels.

The yacht drew up at the levee, and King Rex, accompanied by his escort, landed, where he was greeted with proper ceremony by the dukes of the realm.

Then the king was provided with a handsomely decorated carriage, which he entered, and a procession was formed. The king's carriage somewhat resembled a chariot, being drawn by four mettlesome coal-black horses, all gayly caparisoned with gold and silver tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs and nodding plumes.

A magnificent band of music headed the procession, and then came a barge that was piled high with beautiful and fragrant flowers. In this barge was a girl who seemed to be dressed entirely in flowers, and there was a crown of flowers on her head. She was masked, but did not seem to be more than sixteen or seventeen years of age.

She was known as "the Queen of Flowers," and other girls, ladies of the court, dressed entirely in white, accompanied her.

The king's carriage followed the flower barge, and, directed by the queen, who was seated on a throne of flowers, the girls scattered flowers beneath the feet of the horses, now and then laughingly pelting some one in the throng with them.

As the procession started, the cannons boomed once more, and the steam whistles shrieked.

And then, in less than a minute, there came a startling interruption.

The cheering of the people on one of the side streets turned to shrieks of terror and warning, and the crowd was seen to make a mad rush for almost any place of shelter.

"What's the matter, Frank?" asked Professor Scotch, in alarm.

"Don't know," was the reply, as Frank mounted to the carriage seat, on which he stood to obtain a view. "Why, it seems that there are wild cattle in the street, and they're coming this way."

"Good gracious!" gasped the professor. "Drive on, driver--get out of the way quickly!"

"That's impossible, sir," replied the driver, immediately. "If I drive on, we are liable to be overturned by the rushing crowd. It is safer to keep still and remain here."

"Those cattle look like Texas long-horns!" cried Frank.

"So they are, sir," a.s.sured the driver. "They have broken out of the yard in which they were placed this morning. They were brought here on a steamer."

"Texas long-horns on a stampede in a crowded city!" fluttered Frank.

"That means damage--no end of it."

In truth, nearly half a hundred wild Texan steers, driven to madness by the shrieking whistles and thundering cannons, had broken out of the fraily constructed yard, and at least a dozen of them had stampeded straight toward Ca.n.a.l Street.

Persons crushed against each other and fell over each other in frantic haste to get out of the way for the cattle to pa.s.s. Some were thrown down and trampled on by the fear-stricken throng. Men shouted hoa.r.s.ely, and women shrieked.

Mad with terror, blinded by dust, furious with the joy of sudden freedom, the Texan steers, heads lowered, horns glistening, eyes glowing redly and nostrils steaming, charged straight into the crowd.

It was a terrible spectacle.

"For Heaven's sake, is there no way of stopping those creatures?" cried Frank.

"We'll all be killed!" quavered Professor Scotch.

Into Ca.n.a.l Street rushed the crowd, and the procession was broken up in a moment. The one thought of everybody seemed to be to get out of the way of the steers.

The horses on the flower barge became unmanageable, turned short, snorting with terror, and upset the barge, spilling flowers, girls, and all into the street. Then, in some way, the animals broke away, leaving the wrecked barge where it had toppled.

The girls, with one exception, sprang up and fled in every direction.

The one exception was the Queen of Flowers, who lay motionless and apparently unconscious in the street, with the beautiful flowers piled on every side of her.

"She is hurt!" cried Frank, who was watching her. "Why doesn't some one pick her up?"

"They do not see her there amid the flowers," palpitated the professor.

"They do not know she has not fled with the other girls!"

"The cattle--the steers will crush her!" shouted the driver.

"Not if I can save her!" rang out the clear voice of our hero.

Professor Scotch made a clutch at the lad, but too late to catch and hold him.

Frank leaped from the carriage, clearing the heads of a dozen persons, struck on his feet in the street, tore his way through the rushing, excited mob, and reached the side of the unconscious Flower Queen. He lifted her from the ground, and, at that very instant, a mad steer, with lowered head and bristling horns, charged blindly at them!

CHAPTER XIV.

THE HOT BLOOD OF YOUTH.

A cry of horror went up from those who beheld the peril of the brave boy and the Queen of Flowers, for it looked as if both must be impaled by the wicked horns of the mad steer.

Well it was that Frank was a lad of nerve, with whom at such a moment to think was to act. Well it was that he had the muscles and strength of a trained athlete.

Frank did not drop the girl to save himself, as most lads would have done. She felt no heavier than a feather in his arms, but it seemed that he would be unable to save himself, if he were uninc.u.mbered.

Had he leaped ahead he could not have escaped. With all the energy he possessed, he sprang backward, at the same time swinging the girl away from the threatening horns, so that his own body protected her in case he was not beyond reach of the steer.

In such a case and in such a situation inches count, and it proved thus in this instance.

One of the steer's horns caught Frank's coat sleeve at the shoulder, and ripped it open to the flesh as far as his elbow, the sharp point seeming to slit the cloth like a keen knife.

But Frank was unharmed, and the unconscious girl was not touched.

Then the steer crashed into the flower barge.

Frank was not dazed by his remarkable escape, and he well knew the peril might not be over.

Like a leaping panther, the boy sprang from the spot, avoiding other mad steers and frantic men and women, darted here and there through the flying throng, and reached a place where he believed they would be safe.