He Lost The Match

"I supposp, " said the old circus man, "tbat the greatest bass hom player that ever lived was Enos Stulkinton He played the bass horn in ourband. There have been men with a better kuowl sdge of music, perhaps, and some with a moro finished style, but none that could touch him in producing thunder. His playing carne to be one of the features of the show. He was a star attraction where he was known, but to most people he carne as a sui-pri.se, something more than they had expected, and they enjoyed him all the more on that account. For iustance, at every performance, bef ore the actual beginning of the show, we used to give a band concert, and Mr. Stulkinton wonld begin to get in his fine work there. As the people listened to his first thuiiderous'oomphahs!' they were amazed. But when they heard the canvas of the great tent flap in unisón with the blasts of his horn they all laughed, and thereafter throughout the performance they all paid close attentiou when Enos raised the instrument. "We tried, of conrse, always to make a route for the show that wouldn't conflict with anybody else, for there were plenty of towns that wouldn't stand but one show at a time. Two would lose money in them, however good they mightbe. Butsoruetimesweran against some stubborn man that wouldn't give way, and then there was nothing to do but to s,how and beat him if we could. "Once, wheu we struck a town with another show, we learned somehow that they had a great bass horn player in their band, and of course we challenged 'em for a contest. And they took up the challenge very promptly. There wasu't much time to prepare for it, but we billed the town in an honr and got permission to put up a stand on the public square, because it was to be a free exhibition, and that attracted attention. "The contest was at noou, and of course the two bauds played as aecompanists of tho horn playera. And that made a big band concert, and the crowd was something enormous. The terms were that each mau was to play once, and then a vote of the people was to be taken. The man defeated in that round had a right to cali for another. If the man defeated in the first round won the secoud, the man who won the iii't round had a right to cali for a third round. But the winner of two rounds by the vote of the people was to be clared the winner of tlie contest. ""Well, tim men in oür show bet every dollar tkey could rake and scrape on Enos, and some of the more gentle hearted of them thought they were just robbing the men in the other show. Our old man not only bet all bis money, but he bet the idol of his heart, the farnous old giraffe of our show, against the ! other Bhow'smoth eaten buffalo, and he was so dead sure that he threw in a cinuamon beor to boot, "Our side had the first inning, and our band showed 'em how to play, and then Enos srood up for his solo. And how he did niake the th tinder! It was 'oomphah, oomphah, pomphahl' as it had never been heard before, and he fairly carried the people oft' their feet. "Then the other band played a tune, and their man got up. And there's uo use talking, he raised more thunder than Enos did and set the people shouting. "Then the mayor got up to take the vote, as he'd agreed to do, and he was interested uow as much as anybody. And the people voted for the other man, as we expected they would. But we hadn't any doubt about the final resul't, for we thought that Enos would unshaokle now and break away and make the blow of his life. And he did. We, who had been hearing him for years, had never heard him approach what he did now. It was wonderful. Ho set the people wild, and we thought we had 'em sure. "But the other man 's very first 'oomphah 1' made na tremble, and as he went on we knew we were lost, money. giraffe, cverything. We'd never heard anything like this before. It wasn't just simple peáis of thunder - it was a thunder factory in full blast and working with ;i doublé f orce of men. There could be only one verdict. "That afternoou the whole town went to the other show and left our big tent empty. The other people came over for the animáis they'd wou before show time. They wanted to take 'em over and walk 'em around in their ring. The old man had 'em brought out. When the giraffe realized what had happened, he woimd his neck aronud the center pole and wouldn't budge. But the old man finally persuaded him, and over he went to be made a show of in the other circus. "Enos Stulkinton never blew a bass hom again. He'd had the opportunity of his life, had missed it and he hadn't the heart. Af ter that he always blew a baritone. "For my own part, I ahvays thought there was a trick in it. Don't you know, there are things that look iair and square on the face of them that you f eel certaiu, all the same, are off, in some way. Well, I kucw there was something wrong about that man's bass hom playing, and years afterward I heard what it was. He had a bellows attaehed to the hom, with a hole in tho side of the horn for the nozzlo of the bellows, and the bellows insido his clothes out of sight, and a vod running down to a tnadle under his foot. He re-euforced his own blowiDg with blasts from this bellows, and, of course, the man didn't live that could stand up against him. "We told Enos about this, but it was too late. He'd lost his ambition and was satisfied now to play second fiddle, though heuiight still have been a pion. "-