The immediate result was that instead of believing him to be a burglar, the same ones who fancied a few moments previous that he looked guilty, were now quite positive he was a victim.
Tim arrived while the serenade was in progress, and when Teddy explained the situation, he exclaimed, gleefully:
"Well, by jinks! This jest knocks the spots outer everything! Trade will hum after this, or I'm a duffer."
And the clerk's prediction was verified in a very short time.
When the musicians had concluded the concert they laid aside their instruments, and during the next ten minutes every man of them threw rings at the canes or knives so rapidly that both Teddy and his assistant had all they could do to wait upon the throng.
Then, giving the signal for the march to be resumed, the leader said to the young fakir:
"Don't get discouraged, my boy, no matter what happens. If you have any trouble it can't last long, for you've plenty of friends at the Run, and after what happened here yesterday there should be a good many on the grounds."
The kind-hearted musicians marched away without giving Teddy an opportunity to thank them, and as if to atone for their previously spoken harsh words the bystanders devoted themselves with unusual zest to the task of winning a cane worth a dollar by an outlay of five cents.
It was nearly an hour before trade began to grow dull again, and both the boys were quite willing to rest a few moments.
"At this rate we stand a chance of getting rich before the fair closes," Teddy exclaimed, in a tone of satisfaction. "I wonder what Uncle Nathan would have said if he'd been here to hear the leader?"
"I'll tell you," a disagreeable but familiar sounding voice replied from the rear of the stand where its owner had been concealed by an adjoining booth, and Nathan Hargreaves stalked into view with a comically tragic air. "Things have come to a pretty pass when a man's own relations, an' them as he has set up in business with his own hard-earned money, try to bring scorn and reproach upon him. You are a snake in the grass, Teddy Hargreaves, an' not content with helpin' rob me, concoct such a disgraceful scene as I have jest witnessed."
"What could I have had to do with it?" Teddy cried, in surprise. "I didn't know they were going to give me a lift."