"It's a pity all the people aren't
idiots," said Marcus Wilkeson to Tiffles. "Your panorama would be
patronized and appreciated then." It was Marcus's first approach to a
joke that day.
By four o'clock in the afternoon the Panorama of Africa was all up, the
rollers and the curtain in good working order, and everything ready for
the eventful night. Stoop had taken a lesson at the 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.
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