"No," said Mr. Holiday. "I am not sure that it is safe."
So the boys went away from the carriage back under the trees again, and walked along to see what the next exhibition might be. The carriage moved on in the avenue a little way to keep up with them.
The boys strolled along through the crowd a little while longer, looking for a moment, as they passed, now at the stalls for selling gingerbread and cakes, now at a display of pictures on a long line,-the sheets being fastened to the line by pins, like clothes upon a clothes line,-now at a company of singers, singing upon a stage under a canopy, and now again at a little boy, about seven or eight years old, who was tumbling head over heels on a little carpet which he had spread on the ground, and then carrying round his cap to the bystanders, in hopes that some of them would give him a sou. At length their attention was attracted by some large boys, who were engaged at a stand at a little distance in shooting at a mark with what seemed to be small guns. These guns, however, discharged themselves by means of a spring coiled up within the barrel, instead of gunpowder; and the bullets which they shot were peas. Rollo had seen these shooting-places before, when he went through the Fields on the first Sunday after he came; so he did not stop long here, but called Carlos's attention to something that he had never seen before, which was going on at a place a little under a tree, a little farther along. A large boy seemed to be pitching quoits. There were a number of persons around him looking on. There was a sort of box placed near the tree, the bottom of which was about two feet square. It had a back next the tree, and two sides, but it had no front or top. In fact, it was almost precisely like a wheelbarrow without any wheel, legs, or handles.
[Illustration: SINGING IN THE OPEN AIR.]
The bottom or floor of this box had a great many round and flat plates of brass upon it, about four inches in diameter, and about four inches apart from each other. The player had ten other plates in his hand, of the same size with those which were upon the bottom of the plate. He took these, one by one, and standing back at a certain distance, perhaps about as far as one good long pace, pitched them, as boys do quoits, in upon the floor of the box. What he tried to do was, to cover up one of the disks in the box so that no part of it could be seen. If he did so he was to have a prize; and he paid two sous for the privilege of playing. The prizes consisted of little articles of porcelain, bronzes, cheap jewelry, images, and other similar things, which were all placed conspicuously on shelves against the tree, above the box, in view of the player.
It seemed to the bystanders as if it would be not at all difficult to toss the disks so as with ten to cover one; but those who tried seemed to find it very difficult to accomplish the object. Even if the disks which they tossed fell in the right place, they would rebound or slide away, and sometimes knock away those which were already well placed. Still, after trying once, the players wore usually unwilling to give up without trying a second, and even a third and fourth time, so that they generally lost six or eight sous before they were willing to stop; especially as the man himself would now and then play the disks, and he, having made himself skilful by great practice, found no difficulty in piling up his ten disks wherever he wished them to go.
"I could do it, I verily believe," said Rollo. "I should like to try. I mean to go and ask my father if I may."
So Rollo went to the carriage to state the case to his father, and ask his permission to see if he could not pitch the disks so as to cover one of the plates on the board. His father hesitated.
"So far as trying the experiment is concerned," said Mr. Holiday, "as a matter of dexterity and skill, there is no harm; but so far as the hope of getting a prize by it is concerned, it is of the nature of gaming."
"I should think it was more of the nature of a reward for merit and excellence," said Mr. George.
"No," said Mr. Holiday; "for in one or two trials made by chance passengers coming along to such a place, the result must depend much more on chance than on adroitness or skill.
"I will tell you what you may do, Rollo," continued Mr. Holiday. "You may pay the man the two sous and try the experiment, provided you determine beforehand not to take any prize if you succeed. Then you will pay your money simply for the use of his apparatus, to amuse yourself with a gymnastic performance, and not stake it in hope of a prize."
"Well," said Rollo, "that is all I want." And off he ran.
"It seems to me that that is a very nice distinction that you made," said Mr. George, as soon as Rollo had gone, "and that those two things are very near the line."
"Yes," replied Mr. Holiday, "it is a nice distinction, but it is a very true one. The two things are very near the line; but then, one of them is clearly on one side, and the other on the other. For a boy to pay for the use of such an apparatus for the purpose of trying his eye and his hand is clearly right; but to stake his money in hopes of winning a prize is wrong, for it is gaming. It is gaming, it is true, in this case, on an exceedingly small scale. Still it is gaming, and so is the beginning of a road which has a very dreadful end. Is not it so?"
"Yes," said Mr. George, "I think it is."
As might have been expected, Rollo did not succeed in covering one of the disks. The disks that he threw spread all over the board. The money that he paid was, however, well spent, for he had much more than two sous' worth of satisfaction in making the experiment.
Rollo found a great many other things to interest him in the various stalls and stands that he visited; but at length he got tired of them all, and, coming back to the carriage, told his father that he was ready to go home.
"Very well," said his father. "I don't know but that your uncle George and I are ready, too, though we have not quite got through with our papers. But we can finish them at home."
So Rollo and Carlos got into the carriage, and all the party went home to dinner.
CHAPTER X. ROLLO'S NARRATIVE.
One evening, when Rollo had been making a long excursion during the day with his uncle George, and had dined with him, at the close of it, at a restaurant's in the Boulevards, he went home about eight o'clock to the hotel to see his father and mother and Jennie, and tell them where he had been. He found his mother in her room putting on her bonnet. She said she was going to take a ride along the Boulevards with a gentleman and lady who were going to call for her.
"And where is father?" said Rollo.
"He has gone to bed, and is asleep by this time. You must be careful not to disturb him."
"And Jennie?" asked Rollo.
"She has gone to bed, too," said his mother; "but she is not asleep, and I presume she will be very glad to see you. You can go in her room."
"Well, I will," said Rollo. "But, mother, I should like to go and ride with you. Will there be room for me?"
"Yes," said his mother. "There will be room, I suppose, in the carriage; but it would not be proper for me to take you, for I am going on an invitation from others. The invitation was to me alone, and I have no right to extend it to any body else.
"But this you can do, if you please," continued his mother. "You can take our carriage, and let Alfred drive you, and so follow along after our party. Only in that case you would not have any company. You would be in a carriage alone."
"Never mind that," said Rollo. "I should like that. I would put the top back, and then I could see all around. I should have a grand ride. I'll go. I wish Jennie had not gone to bed; she could have gone with me."
"No," replied his mother; "Jennie is not well to-night. She has got cold, and she went to bed early on that account. But she will be very glad to have you go and see her."
So Rollo went into Jennie's room. As soon as he opened the door, Jennie pushed aside the curtains, and said,-