The mob (a large and angry crowd of people) ran toward the house of Colonel Sherburn. They were shouting and very angry. They stepped on everything in their way. Children ran away from the people. Women watched from their windows. Boys climbed trees to see. The people broke the fence in front of the house. They began to move into the yard.
Suddenly, Colonel Sherburn walked out onto his porch roof. He held a gun with two barrels. He was very calm and did not say a word. The crowd became quiet immediately. Colonel Sherburn looked at the people one by one. The people could not look at his eyes. They felt ashamed and looked at the ground.
Colonel Sherburn began to laugh. It was a cold and mean laugh. He told the people that they were not brave. He said they did not have enough courage to kill a man. He said the average man is a coward. In the North, people are too humble. In the South, one man can stop a whole group. He told them they only kill people at night.
Colonel Sherburn said the people only came because of Buck Harkness. He called Buck Harkness "half a man." He said a mob (a large and angry crowd of people) is a pitiful thing. A mob (a large and angry crowd of people) borrows its courage from other people. He told the people to go home and hide.
Colonel Sherburn raised his gun and made it ready to shoot. The people were afraid and ran away quickly. Buck Harkness ran after them. I did not want to stay there anymore. I went to the circus (a show with animals and performers in a large tent).
I had some money, but I did not want to spend it. I hid and went under the tent without paying. It was a very beautiful show. Twenty men and women rode on horses. The ladies were beautiful and wore expensive clothes. They looked like queens.
The performers stood up on the horses. They danced while the horses ran in a circle. The ring-master (the person in charge of a circus show) used his whip and shouted. The clown (a performer who wears funny clothes and makes people laugh) told many jokes. Everyone laughed at the clown (a performer who wears funny clothes and makes people laugh).
Then a drunk man tried to enter the ring. He said he wanted to ride a horse. The circus workers tried to stop him. The people in the crowd shouted at the man. Finally, the ring-master (the person in charge of a circus show) let him ride. The man jumped on the horse.
The horse began to run and jump. The man hung onto the horse’s neck. His legs moved in the air. I was very afraid for him because the horse was fast. Suddenly, the man stood up on the horse. He was not drunk anymore.
The man began to take off his clothes while the horse ran. He took off seventeen suits! Under the clothes, he wore a beautiful costume. He was actually a circus performer. It was a joke. The ring-master (the person in charge of a circus show) was very surprised. I felt a bit silly because I believed the man was drunk.
That night, the King and the Duke had their show. But only twelve people came to see it. These people laughed at the sad parts of the play. This made the Duke very angry. Everyone left before the show finished. One boy even fell asleep.
The Duke said the people in this town did not like Shakespeare. The next morning, the Duke had a new idea. He wanted to do a different kind of show. He made new posters (large pieces of paper with information about a show).
The posters (large pieces of paper with information about a show) said the show was called "The Royal Nonesuch." At the bottom, he wrote a special line. It said, "Ladies and children are not allowed." The Duke said this would bring all the men in the town to the show.