Soon the
circus agent hurried back into the king's hut, and a moment later
there was heard the strains of a banjo being picked by an
unpracticed hand. It was succeeded by a rattling tune played in good
style.
"Bless my fiddlestick!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, "Does your phonograph
have a banjo record, Tom?"
"No." was the somewhat hesitating answer of the young inventor.
"Delby who can play a banjo himself must have given Kosk one for a
present, and, like a child, the king is amused by the latest
novelty. So far he has scored one on us," he added, as once more
they heard the unmelodious strains of the banjo slowly picked. "The
king is evidently learning to play the instrument, and he'd rather
have that than a phonograph, which only winds up."
"But haven't you some other things you can give the king to off-set
the banjo?" asked Mr. Damon.
"Plenty of them," replied Tom. "But if I give him--say a toy steam
engine, for I have one among our things--what is to prevent Delby
giving him some other novelty that will take his attention? In that
way we'll sea-saw back and forth, and I guess Delby has had more
experience in this business than I have.
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